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Lot Essay
The present work is an expressive example of one the artist’s most favored series: Bullfight. Here, the painting’s palette is energized by swaths of vibrant colors that activate the composition, capturing the experience of the physical contest and rhythmic dance between bull and matador.
After spending most of her life only knowing and living in New York, Elaine de Kooning accepted a position as a visiting professor at the University of New Mexico. In the same year, she had amicably separated from husband and Abstract Expressionist painter Willem de Kooning, making it a year of great change for the artist. Evolving from her early still lifes and portraiture, de Kooning migrated to a form of abstraction that reflected the physical environment she was immersed in. She commented on this transformative moment: “It was a revelation. The ruddy earth, the naked musculature of the Rockies, the brilliant colors of the sky behind them in twilight, the massive horizontality of the environment – it was all overpowering, and my painting responded.” (E. de Kooning, quoted in E. Munro, Originals: American Women Artists, New York, 1979, p. 255).
In response, de Kooning began a series inspired by the expansive Southwestern landscape, as well as her observations and experiences in Mexico. Her first experiences with bullfighting were especially significant. de Kooning recalls: “I went to Juárez to see the bullfights, which immediately struck me as a heightened image of Southwestern landscape – the panorama of the arena, the heraldic colors…” (E. de Kooning, quoted in E. Munro, Originals: American Women Artists, New York, 1979, p. 255). Captivated by the theatrics and excitement that surrounded bullfights, de Kooning soon infused her paintings with the same energy.
As a manifestation of the physical confrontation of a bullfight, the present lot bursts with action, as gestural marks and brilliant colors emerge from the canvas. Each brushstroke acts as a signifier of momentum and moments captured between the matador and the bull. While inspired by these specific encounters, when experienced as a whole, the work emerges as an affectionate homage to nature and landscape, underpinned by the artist’s nuanced coalescence of color and expression.
After spending most of her life only knowing and living in New York, Elaine de Kooning accepted a position as a visiting professor at the University of New Mexico. In the same year, she had amicably separated from husband and Abstract Expressionist painter Willem de Kooning, making it a year of great change for the artist. Evolving from her early still lifes and portraiture, de Kooning migrated to a form of abstraction that reflected the physical environment she was immersed in. She commented on this transformative moment: “It was a revelation. The ruddy earth, the naked musculature of the Rockies, the brilliant colors of the sky behind them in twilight, the massive horizontality of the environment – it was all overpowering, and my painting responded.” (E. de Kooning, quoted in E. Munro, Originals: American Women Artists, New York, 1979, p. 255).
In response, de Kooning began a series inspired by the expansive Southwestern landscape, as well as her observations and experiences in Mexico. Her first experiences with bullfighting were especially significant. de Kooning recalls: “I went to Juárez to see the bullfights, which immediately struck me as a heightened image of Southwestern landscape – the panorama of the arena, the heraldic colors…” (E. de Kooning, quoted in E. Munro, Originals: American Women Artists, New York, 1979, p. 255). Captivated by the theatrics and excitement that surrounded bullfights, de Kooning soon infused her paintings with the same energy.
As a manifestation of the physical confrontation of a bullfight, the present lot bursts with action, as gestural marks and brilliant colors emerge from the canvas. Each brushstroke acts as a signifier of momentum and moments captured between the matador and the bull. While inspired by these specific encounters, when experienced as a whole, the work emerges as an affectionate homage to nature and landscape, underpinned by the artist’s nuanced coalescence of color and expression.