Lisbeth's Painting (Primary Title)
Willem de Kooning, American, born Netherlands, 1904 - 1997 (Artist)
"I don't paint with ideas of art in mind. I see something that excites me. It becomes my content." -Willem de Kooning
The bold energetic brushstrokes in this work are characteristic of de Kooning's Abstract Expressionist style. Abstract Expressionists took as their subject the artist's inner life, as captured by spontaneous gestures.
De Kooning recalled returning to his studio the morning after completing the painting to find that his two-year-old daughter had pressed her paint covered hands onto the canvas. De Kooning left Lisbeth's handprints and titled the painting in her honor. Like the Surrealists, whoexplored the unconscious using chance and randomness, de Kooning and his contemporaries embraced the importance of the accidental as a source of creative expression.
The Common Wealth, Roanoke Museum of Fine Arts, December 1, 1990 – February 3, 1991
Willem de Kooning: An Exhibition of Paintings, Salander - O'Reilly Galleries, Inc., New York, NY, September 4 – October 13, 1990
Made in America, Virginia Beach Arts Center, Virginia Beach, VA, April 5 – June 11, 1989
Contemporary Art from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Muscarelle Museum, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA, September 20 – November 15, 1987
Selections from the Sydney and Frances Lewis Collection of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Delaware Art Museum, Wilmington, DE, March 29 – May 10, 1987
Westkunst, Rheinhallen Fairgrounds, Cologne, Germany, May 30 - August 16, 1981
18th, 19th, and 20th Century Paintings, Joe and Emily Lowe Art Gallery, Coral Gables, FL, July - September 1962
Willem de Kooning, Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, NY, May 1959
Some object records are not complete and do not reflect VMFA's full and current knowledge. VMFA makes routine updates as records are reviewed and enhanced.
