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Willem de Kooning Quotes

Artist

Willem de Kooning was a Dutch-born American abstract expressionist painter. Known for his bold colors and dynamic brushstrokes, his work had a profound impact on 20th-century art.

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All Art Artist Paint Painting Thinking Ifs Ideas Space Abstract Form I Can Way Absurd Certain Matter Painter Peaceful Pure Seems Abstraction

Famous Willem de Kooning Quotes

“If you're an artist, the problem is to make a picture work whether you are happy or not.”

Ifs Problem Happiness Artist

Author:Willem de Kooning

“If I stretch my arms and wonder where my fingers are - that is all the space I need as a painter.”

Ifs Needs Space Wonder Arms Fingers Painter

Book:De Kooning: A Retrospective

Source: De Kooning: A Retrospective

“The idea of space is given to the artist to change if he can. The subject matter in the abstract is space.”

Ifs Ideas Matter Artist Given Space Subjects Abstract Subject Matter

Book:De Kooning: A Retrospective

Source: De Kooning: A Retrospective

“When, about fifteen years ago, I walked into Arshile's studio for the first time, the atmosphere was so beautiful that I got a little dizzy and when I came to, I was bright enough to take the hint immediately. If the bookkeepers think it necessary to make sure of where things and people came from, well then, I came from 36 Union Square. I am glad that it is about impossible to get away from his powerful influence.”

“If you pick up some paint with your brush and make somebody's nose with it, this is rather ridiculous when you think of it, theoretically or philosophically. It's really absurd to make an image, like a human image, with paint, today.”

Ifs Thinking Humans Today Picks Paint Ridiculous Absurd Noses Brushes

Book:Willem de Kooning, 1904-1997: Content as a Glimpse

Source: Willem de Kooning, 1904-1997: Content as a Glimpse

“I paint the way I do because I can keep on putting more and more things in - like drama, pain, anger, love, a figure, a horse, my ideas of space. It doesn't matter if it differs from mine, as long as it comes from the painting, which has its own integrity and intensity.”

Ifs Way Long I Can Ideas Matter Pain Space Figures Mines Painting Integrity Drama Horse Paint Intensity Because I Can Anger Love

Author:Willem de Kooning

“In art, one idea is as good as another. If one takes the idea of trembling, for instance, all of a sudden most art starts to tremble. Michelangelo starts to tremble. El Greco starts to tremble. All the Impressionists start to tremble.”

Ifs Art Ideas Artist Instance Trembling Impressionists

Book:Willem de Kooning

Source: Willem de Kooning

About the Author

Born: April 24, 1904
Died: March 19, 1997
Known for: Artist
Quotes: 54

Books & Sources

De Kooning: A RetrospectiveRelated source material

Willem de Kooning: Pittsburgh International Series, October 26, 1979-January 6, 1980, Museum of Art, Carnegie InstituteRelated source material

Willem de Kooning, 1904-1997: Content as a GlimpseRelated source material

De Kooning: a centennial exhibitionRelated source material

Willem de KooningRelated source material

De Kooning: paintings, 1960-1980Related source material

Willem De Kooning: Vellums : March 21-April 21, 2001Related source material

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