Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)

"De Kooning's contribution to drawing is as far-reaching as it has been to painting... His drawings and paintings are extremely close to each other in many respects. In fact, the drawings are often the starting point for the paintings. Often brutal, sometimes lyrical, the drawings are replete with the same frenzied brushstrokes of the paintings. In addition, de Kooning's preference for relatively small scale relates the size of the paintings to the drawings and makes the connections between them very apparent."
— (D. Waldman, Willem de Kooning in East Hampton, exh. cat., New York, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1978, p. 18.)