Willem
de Kooning
A Life Forged in Abstraction Willem de Kooning, a name synonymous with the raw energy and emotional depth of Abstract Expressionism, was born in Rotterdam, Netherlands, in 1904. His early life was marked by a familial split – his parents divorced when he was young …
A portrait built from Willem de Kooning's own colours
Every 47 approved work contributes its dominant tone to a single flowing field. Sorted along the hue wheel, the strip reads as a smooth spectrum. Click any band to reveal its full four-colour palette.
Bands follow the hue wheel; visually identical tones are merged.
Every painting, placed on the hue wheel
Each dot is a work — its angle set by hue, its distance from the centre by saturation. Hover a dot to see the painting.
The signature, in numbers
Where the colour came from
Up to 24 paintings representing the most frequent palette tones — each shown with its dominant colours.
