Willem de Kooning
American, born Netherlands, 1904–1997
Untitled XI
INV-1008
Willem de Kooning
American, born Netherlands, 1904–19971975
paintingmodern and contemporary art
Date
1975
Medium
Oil on linen
Dimensions
Without frame: 195.6 × 223.5 cm (77 1/16 × 88 in.); 195.6 × 223.6 cm (77 × 88 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Through prior bequests of John J. Ireland and Joseph Winterbotham; Walter Aitken Endowment
Willem de Kooning is known for emotive, gestural canvases that transcend conventional definitions of figuration and abstraction. In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he turned his attention away from painting, instead focusing on sculpture, printmaking, and drawing. In 1975, at the age of 71, de Kooning began one of the most productive periods of painting in his career, quickly completing 20 new, large canvases within 6 months. Untitled XI belongs to this series, which was, with a few exceptions, untitled and chronologically numbered. Moving away from tightly organized compositions, de Kooning used free-flowing brushwork and softened, sensuous hues to liberate form. Here the figurative references that are dominant in his earlier work are nearly lost within a far more lyrical and joyful abstract landscape.
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