WILLEM OF KOONING : “Woman I”, 1950-52 – oil on canvas, 192.7- 147.3 cm. - New York, Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) (www.moma.org) © Willem de Kooning

At the heart of the unstoppable abstract expressionism, arises the figure of Willem de Kooning, American born in the Netherlands, expressionist but not always abstract. Their series of women, from which this one from the MOMA is the most representative, is the zenith of his oeuvre. “This painting did something for me: it eliminated the composition, the order, the relations, the light, all that absurd speech about the line, the colour and the form...” In effect, beyond the terrible and ruthless force exhibited by these women - described by T. Hess as “black goddesses”- is a relative and momentary return to the figurative language after the irruption of the abstract expressionism