Artwork Page for Five Women

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Details / Information for Five Women

Five Women

1952

Willem de Kooning

(American, born The Netherlands, 1904–1997)
Culture
America
Medium
graphite on paper
Support
Wove paper
Measurements
Sheet: 44.5 x 72.4 cm (17 1/2 x 28 1/2 in.)
Credit Line
Purchased with funds donated by Frank Bunts 2026.14
Copyright
Copyright
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print
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Did You Know?

Although his early reputation was built on painting, de Kooning was an avid draftsman known for his experimental techniques—which included occasionally drawing with his eyes closed.

Description

Willem de Kooning was known for his ongoing Women series, which he began around 1950. These works incorporated both figuration and abstraction, depicting the female form with expressive, angular, and layered marks. Five Women depicts a group of figures thought to reference Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), which de Kooning would have seen at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1949. De Kooning drew his subject with a sharpened graphite pencil before smearing the marks with an eraser in a process that recalled his paintings.
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Five Women

1952

Willem de Kooning

(American, born The Netherlands, 1904–1997)
America

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