Willem de Kooning (1904 -1997) was a Dutch artist who immigrated to the United States in 1926. He was considered a leader in the genre of Abstract Expressionism, which was an American movement strongly influenced by European Surrealist notions of free expression and automatism. The artist didn’t use preliminary studies and painted directly on the canvas by manipulating pigment in dynamic and unrestrained gestures. In this way he expressed his personal anxieties of the material world in both figurative and abstract compositions.

‘Police Gazette’ (1955) medium oil, enamel and charcoal on canvas, size 43 1/4 inches x 50 1/4 inches, is a landscape painting in which de Kooning used abstract elements and bright colours. It is a canvas with simple geometric forms that creates a perfect contract between the formal elements of the artwork. This work of art established the artist amongst the most important abstract artists of the contemporary world. It is in the private collection.—E.J.

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine, February 7th, 2016