Untitled XVIII

"I have to change to stay the same" - Willem de Kooning, 1981

In the 1980's, de Kooning often used old drawings as inspiration for paintings, and at times, would project them onto larger canvases as a starting point, and indeed, Untitled XVII, 1986 appears directly related to an earlier work. Although bearing the palette and simplicity of his 1980's paintings, the composition in many ways is a reprise of his classic compositional format of an abstracted figure in an interior, with a window clearly referenced in the upper left corner. It is as if the artist has boiled a 1940's painting down to its purest form, much like Rothko's late series of black and white paintings removed color and painterliness. Like Bill-Lee's Delight, or Pink Angels from 1945 and 1946, there is a sultry eroticism created by the sensuous curvilinearity and a dynamic intersection of forms and shapes, although the violence is more contained in Untitled XVII, 1986.

Untitled XVII, 1986 is a particularly celebrated example of the artist's late work. Symbolic of de Kooning's continuing influence over younger artists, Untitled XVII, 1986 was prominently included in the 1987 Whitney Biennial.

Untitled XVII is an image of bursting visual delight, with undulating lines that pulsate towards the edge of the picture. De Kooning's habitual practice of shifting the orientation of his painting also adds to the sense of the painting as an expanse of pictorial space rather than a conventional picture. It is a supreme example of what de Kooning sought to do in his late work, to refine, simplify, and elevate what he already knew how to do.





Willem de Kooning, Bill-Lee's Delight, 1945. © 2006 The Willem de Kooning Foundation/Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.

Juan Gris, Guitar on a Table, 1916. © Christie's Images/CORBIS/Succession Picasso.