Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)

Figure in Water

Details

Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)
Figure in Water
signed 'de Kooning' (lower right)
oil on paper laid down on canvas
23 x 18¼ in. (58.4 x 46.3 cm.)
Painted in 1967.

Provenance

Elaine de Kooning (gift from the artist) Private collection, acquired by descent from the above
Diane Upright Fine Arts, LLC, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner

Literature

G. Drudi, Willem de Kooning, Milan, 1972, no. 145 (illustrated in color).
H. Rosenberg, Willem de Kooning, New York, 1973, pl. 175 (illustrated in color).

Exhibited

New York, Knoedler & Co., De Kooning Recent Paintings and Drawings Since 1963, November-December 1967, p. 54 (illustrated).

Sale Room Notice

The correct provenance for this lot is as follows:

Elaine de Kooning (gift from the artist)
Private collection, acquired by descent from the above
Diane Upright Fine Arts, LLC, New York
Acquired from the above by the present owner

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Lot Essay

"I'm working on a water series. The figures are floating, like reflections in the water. The color is influenced by the natural lightI try to free myself from the notion of top and bottom, left and right, from realism! Everything should float...When I go down to the water's edge on my daily bicycle ride I see the clam diggers bending over, up to their ankles in the surf, their shadows quite unreal, as if floating. This is what gave me the ideaThe whole secret is to free yourself from gravity!"
(Willem de Kooning as quoted in Willem de Kooning: Paintings, exh. cat., Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1994, p. 174)

Figure in Water

Lot Essay

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