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Willem de Kooning — Untitled
Willem de Kooning

Untitled

1972

This abstract composition from 1972 demonstrates de Kooning's signature gestural approach through vigorous brushwork and expressive color application. Sweeping strokes in red, blue, and white dominate the canvas, creating a sense of dynamic movement across the composition. The artist layers translucent and opaque passages of paint, allowing underlying colors to emerge through the surface. Subtle tonal variations in cream and soft pink provide a warm ground against the cooler blue passages, while touches of green and dark tones add depth and visual complexity. The work exemplifies the artist's continued exploration of abstraction with an energetic, spontaneous quality.

Medium
oil on newsprint mounted on canvas
Overall

Notes

Contemporary Day Auction, Sotheby's, sale on 2026-05-15.

🔨 Auction Lot

Contemporary Day Auction

May 15, 2026

Estimate: $400,000$600,000

For Sale

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Spotted works by Willem de Kooning

About this work

Willem de Kooning, Untitled, 1972

This abstract composition from 1972 demonstrates de Kooning's signature gestural approach through vigorous brushwork and expressive color application. Sweeping strokes in red, blue, and white dominate the canvas, creating a sense of dynamic movement across the composition. The artist layers translucent and opaque passages of paint, allowing underlying colors to emerge through the surface. Subtle tonal variations in cream and soft pink provide a warm ground against the cooler blue passages, while touches of green and dark tones add depth and visual complexity. The work exemplifies the artist's continued exploration of abstraction with an energetic, spontaneous quality.

Medium
oil on newsprint mounted on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 73.7 x 57.2 cm
Year
1972
Seen at
Sotheby's, New York, London, Hong Kong, Paris

Related themes

Expressive Brushwork, Modernist Painting, Chromatic Composition, Contemporary Abstract, Mid Century Modern, Energetic Abstraction, Canvas Work, Post War Art, Color Relationships, Layered Paint, Gestural Mark, Visual Expressionism, Non Representational, Abstract Expressionism, Color Field, Gestural Abstraction, Oil Painting, Spontaneous Mark Making, Painterly Technique, Abstract Composition

More works by Willem de Kooning

Collected by

Art Institute of Chicago