Willem de Kooning and Italy

Exhibition at the Gallerie dell'Accademia, Venice, 16 April - 15 September 2024

The Dutch pioneer of abstraction Willem de Kooning (1904-1997) spent two long periods in Italy: in the autumn of 1959 and the summer of 1969. These trips had a profound influence on his work - the first generated a large body of black-and-white works on paper, while the second prompted the artist to experiment with clay - but they have not yet received the attention they deserve from scholars.

This exhibition catalogue is the first book to analyse these two chapters in de Kooning's life and career, reflecting the development of his work from the late 1950s to his final works in the 1980s. It includes 75 works by the artist and is enriched by two essays and contributions by specialists, a bibliography and a list of exhibitions.