Woman 1 by Willem de Kooning

Art History

Willem de Kooning's "Woman 1" depicts a disturbingly distorted human form. With goat's hooves instead of feet, the woman mocks the viewer with a glare and a grin. Moreover, the woman's hooves mimic high heeled shoes and so the entire image appears as a mockery of the female form. De Kooning accomplishes the phantasmagoric effects of "Woman 1" through vivid, wild and almost chaotic brushstrokes. The artist's brushstrokes also create textural nuances on the canvas.

At the same time, the woman's form emerges via de Kooning's deliberate lines, as if he sculpted her on the canvas. Judicious use of black allows the otherwise subdued color palate to dance on the canvas. In fact, "Woman 1" is a painting in motion: its subject seemingly captured while she sits on a moving vehicle. The woman is statuesque as well as burlesque.

The composition of de Kooning's painting conveys its content. The bulk of the woman's weight sits mainly on the left side of the canvas. With her form firmly situated on the left, de Kooning draws the viewer's attention to her center of gravity: the torso. Her exaggerated, wide shoulders enhance the image and ensure that her body appears as a rectangle. The shoulders and lap form a solid mass.

The woman is seated, and her left hoof juts out onto the right of the canvas. Above that hoof are a series of wild, ragged lines that also indicate movement and dynamism. The artist's vivid lines and brushstrokes extend all around her body, framing her. She appears static and still while the world around her rushes by.

Correspondingly, the woman's right hoof seems soothingly stable. The tip of the hoof rests on the midpoint of the canvas's horizontal axis. The eye is therefore drawn upward and meets the woman's left nipple, which forms the center point of the canvas. Thus, the artist divides his canvas into geographic quadrants and creates a sublime sense of balance. Each quadrant contains different shapes, forms, and combinations of color but all four quadrants interact harmoniously.

The balanced composition of "Woman 1" offers counterpoint to what would otherwise seem simply like chaotic brushstrokes and jagged lines. While de Kooning paints the woman's hooves with relative clarity, her hands are blurred. They blend in seamlessly with the remainder of the canvas, again suggesting that she is in motion. The blurred hands are also unsettling, symbolizing the unearthly and even unnatural or supernatural female image.

However, the woman's ample bosom forms the main foreground of "Woman 1." The large bosom represents an earth mother. The largest solid blocks of color on the canvas, the breasts are mostly white. The bright white adds shadow and creates a sense of depth in the composition. White also symbolizes breast milk. Moreover, the white in the breasts balances the black on the hooves and head as well as in the random lines of motion de Kooning places around the woman. The woman's teeth, which are bared in a grin, are also black and white as are her large eyes.