Willem de Kooning was born in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and came to the United States in 1926 as a stowaway on a ship. He settled in New York and initially trained as a commercial artist, working as a painter for the Federal Art Project—part of the Works Project Administration—in the 1930s, which led him to painting full time. In subsequent years, de Kooning became one of the key figures in the Abstract Expressionism movement of art. Best known for his provocative depictions of women, dynamic use of color, and sweeping brushstrokes, de Kooning’s work boldly blended abstraction and figuration, influencing generations of artists that followed.

–Rebecca Altermatt, from the Glenstone Field Guide