Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)

"I'm working on a water series. The figures are floating, like reflections in the water. The color is influenced by the natural lightI try to free myself from the notion of top and bottom, left and right, from realism! Everything should float...When I go down to the water's edge on my daily bicycle ride I see the clam diggers bending over, up to their ankles in the surf, their shadows quite unreal, as if floating. This is what gave me the ideaThe whole secret is to free yourself from gravity!"
(Willem de Kooning as quoted in Willem de Kooning: Paintings, exh. cat., Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1994, p. 174)