Women

“Flesh is the reason oil paint was invented,” Willem de Kooning famously said. With explosive, gestural brushstrokes and bold colors, de Kooning’s vampish portrayals of women challenged the line between figurative and abstract painting. The six oil paintings in de Kooning’s Woman I through Woman VI series (1950–53) are among the Abstract Expressionist’s most celebrated portrayals of the female form, showcasing his revolutionary, painterly take on portraiture. While these canvases have long been off the market, collected by major museums and private collections, additional examples of de Kooning’s depictions of women include drawings, sculptures, works on paper, as well as paintings. In 2018, de Kooning’s Woman as Landscape (1954–55) broke the artist’s auction record, reaching nearly $69 million at Christie’s.