Willem De Kooning Woman I Analysis

Woman I, an abstract oil painting, painted by Willem de Kooning between 1950 and 1952 which is now located in the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The painting is a woman who is disfigured and is not what women would normally look like. He emphasizes and distorts different aspects of her body, so it is less about her looks and more about what women represent entirely. Willem de Kooning uses color, emphasis, different proportions, and through the organization, he conveys his interpretation of women and how strong and powerful they are.
In the painting, Kooning combines the background with the foreground; there is not any separation between the two. Both use the same colors which help to blend it together, giving little indication of where either starts. There is a background, but you cannot tell what is going on, it is just an arrangement of colors and lines. The only detail that is different about the two is that the foreground uses gray to emphasize the important areas of the painting which is centered on the woman.
The artist uses a variety of cool colors such as blue and greens, but in some areas around the border Kooning paints with yellows and pinks sort of pastel colors which would be warm colors. …show more content…
The woman’s arms and legs are too petite for her body while her torso and head appear extremely big. Since it is distorted so much, there is not any indication of where her hands are it is like she does not have any. Her eyes seem enormous for the face and practically take up her entire face while her nose and mouth are smaller, so it is not portioned out in a way that is considered attractive. She appears more manly and ferocious than womanly. It is less about her appearance and attractiveness and more about the idea of women together being strong. This shows that Kooning only wanted to emphasize certain aspects of women such as her brain and strength to show their