iRijksmuseumMuseumkwartier
Willem de Kooning at Work
A century after de Kooning left the Netherlands for New York, a retrospective of more than 120 drawings with celebrated paintings and sculptures, made with the Art Institute of Chicago.
More in Amsterdam
Two of the paintings hang in the Gallery of Honour, close to Rembrandt's Night Watch: Woman I (1950-1952) and Woman and Bicycle (1952-1953). The rest of the show is mostly drawing, more than 120 works in all.
The drawings begin with his training. You might mistake Dish With Jugs, a charcoal still life from his teens at the Rotterdam academy, for a sepia photograph; the catalogue puts it at 600 hours. The rest is sixty-five years of him pushing against those rules, and the Guardian's Ben Eastham called that battle "thrilling to watch" and Excavation (1950) "a knockout masterpiece". He also spotted, at the bottom of a 1949 work of white sparks on black, a scrawled cock and balls.
His catch: the late-1950s Rome works felt "slapdash" to him, and the later paintings are hit and miss. Entry is included in museum admission at €25, free for ages 18 and under, with a timed start booked in advance. The museum is open daily 9:00 to 17:00.
Editor's pick
Woman I hangs near the Night Watch, but the show is mostly drawing: more than 120 works, starting with a teenage charcoal still life that reads like a photograph. The Guardian called Excavation "a knockout masterpiece".
Look for
Woman I and Woman and Bicycle
Two of de Kooning's best-known paintings hang in the Gallery of Honour, near the Night Watch, rather than in the exhibition rooms.
Dish With Jugs, c. 1919-1921
A charcoal still life from his teenage years at the Rotterdam academy, rendered so minutely it reads like a sepia photograph.
Excavation, 1950
Look for interlocking abstract shapes that turn into screaming faces and body parts, hung beside the 1946 drawing Judgment Day.
Clam Diggers, 1963
Two women standing in shallow water, painted in ice-cream colours and buttery textures, a standout among the later works.
The closing painting, 1985
The show ends on sinuous blue and black lines curving across a mottled white ground, made as his cognitive decline set in.
Good for
- Nerding Out
- Out-Of-Town Guests
Skip if
You came for big paintings: this is mostly drawings, and Woman I hangs in another gallery.
With kids
Free for ages 18 and under with the booked timed start.
Also at Rijksmuseum
On now nearby
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Image credits
8
- Willem de Kooning at WorkCourtesy of Rijksmuseum
- Yoshitoshi. Master of the MoonCourtesy of Van Gogh Museum
- Whistler. Dandy and DisruptorCourtesy of Van Gogh Museum
- RijksmuseumTrougnouf (Benoit Brummer) / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0
- Moco MuseumC messier, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Van Gogh MuseumSteven Lek, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Stedelijk Museum AmsterdamJohn Lewis Marshall, via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Museum Van LoonRijksdienst voor het Cultureel Erfgoed via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0