About the Artwork
Unlike his contemporaries Jackson Pollock and Mark Rothko, de Kooning’s paintings refer to natural forms and specific places or events, pushed into pure abstraction by his reliance on color and the deep build-up of paint to create form. Depth and perspective are subordinated to the flattening effects of his slashing, violent brushwork. Some of the "abstract landscapes" from 1957 to 1963 are based on the landscape around Long Island Sound, including Merritt Parkway, a local highway. Speed is suggested by the controlled thrusts of the brush while the naturalistic palette conveys the crisscross of the road through the landscape.
Merritt Parkway
1959
Willem de Kooning
1904-1997
American
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Oil on canvas
Unframed: 80 × 70 1/2 inches (203.2 × 179.1 cm) Framed: 81 × 70 7/8 × 2 inches (205.7 × 180 × 5.1 cm)
Paintings
Contemporary Art after 1950
Bequest of W. Hawkins Ferry
1988.177
Restricted
Markings
Signed, lower left: De Kooning
Provenance
The artist;estate of Ira Haupt [died in 1963];
(J. L. Hudson & Co., Detroit, Michigan, USA);
(Sidney Janis Gallery, New York, New York, USA);
W. Hawkins Ferry [1913-1988];
1989-present, bequest to the the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)
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Provenance pageExhibition History
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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.
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Hess, Thomas B. Willem de Kooning. Great American Artists Series. New York, 1959, (pl. 5).
Janis, Harriet and Rudi Blesh. De Kooning. New York, 1960, p.36, (pl. K).
Ponente, Nello. Modern Painting, Contemporary Trends. New York, 1960, p. 157 (ill.).
The World in Vogue. New York, 1963, p. 364 (ill.).
Gaugh, Harry F. Willem De Kooning. New York, 1983, p. 64.
The W. Hawkins Ferry Collection. Exh. cat., DIA. Detroit, 1987, p. 23 (ill.).
Bulletin of the DIA 65, no. 2/3 (1989): p. 50, fig. 32 (ill.).
Elderfield, John, Lauren Mahony, Jennifer Field, Delphine Huisinga, and Susan Lake. De Kooning: a Retrospective. Exh. cat., The Museum of Modern Art. New York, 2011, pp. 318-319 (fig. 110).
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Credit Line for Reproduction
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York / ADAGP, Paris
Willem de Kooning, Merritt Parkway, 1959, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Bequest of W. Hawkins Ferry, 1988.177.
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