Woman

"De Kooning's contribution to drawing is as far-reaching as it has been to painting," Diane Waldman writes. "His drawings and paintings are extremely close to each other in many respects. In fact, the drawings are often the starting point for the paintings. Often brutal, sometimes lyrical, the drawings are replete with the same frenzied brushstrokes of the paintings. In addition, de Kooning's preference for relatively small scale relates the size of the paintings to the drawings and makes the connections between them very apparent" (D. Waldman, Willem de Kooning in East Hampton, New York, 1978, p. 18, exh. cat.).

With sensual brushstrokes and splashes of color, the present work exhibits the bold energy for which the artist is known to have treated his subjects. The female figure is confined by the edges of the paper and yet seems to leap from the two-dimensional ground, loose-limbed and fanciful. De Kooning's choice of vellum as a support allows him further means to collapse the space between the figure and backgound, and to infuse the composition with the light which remained a constant source of inspiration for him.