No Title for de Kooning's Art

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

The work of Willem de Kooning is typical of the twentieth century, of which he was one of the most outstanding artists. After the Second World War, he waves continuously between figuration (often vulgar characters, and also landscapes) and abstraction. The subject of the artwork is mostly a pretext for big colorful strokes by which the artist expresses his emotions.

In the early 1970s, he devotes himself to sculpture. When he takes his brushes again in 1975, his fiery colors and materials are the best achievement of abstract expressionism. There is no need for words to describe the art in his series of Untitled, which include thirty numbers in two years.

These paintings are well received on the art market. Thus Untitled XXV, 196 x 224 cm, particularly bright, has been sold $ 24.2 million hammer price at Christie's on November 15, 2006.

Untitled XV, 1977, is estimated $ 5 million in the sale at Sotheby's in New York on November 11. Its size is not indicated in the press release, but it is likely that it is a conservative estimate due to the current difficulties of the art market.

In the same sale and from the same collection, a bronze of 1974 titled Large Torso is estimated $ 4 million.

[Pierre Tavlitzki]

Amidst the exceptional results of this sale, the two works of De Kooning have obtained satisfactory prices, without exaggeration when comparing with the estimates.

The untitled painting was sold $ 6.1 million and the Large Torso sculpture $ 5.7 million, both figures including premium.