Untitled XIII

Willem de Kooning, one of the masters of Abstract Expressionism, is best known for his depictions of women created during the 1940s and 1950s. In the early 1960s he continued to paint women, but also began to produce compositions suggesting the landscape and light of his native Holland. In the mid-1970s, the figure became less important to him and by the mid-1980s de Kooning’s paintings had become open, luminous abstractions that integrated both painting and drawing. Untitled XIII features flatly applied, boldly colored interlocking shapes that float in and around swirls of white. The result is a suggestion of broad, expansive space while the shapes and hues hint at a landscape, ocean vista, open sky, or even a curving body part. A remarkable display of energy and inventiveness, this painting was completed by de Kooning at the age of 81.