Willem de Kooning, Dead at 92

EAST HAMPTON, New York: Willem de Kooning, whose art both defined and transcended the abstract expressionist art movement, died Wednesday at his East Hampton home at the age of 92. De Kooning was a major influence upon the New York School of artists that emerged after World War II. His early works, such as "Pink Angels" and his "Woman" series were often painted in bright pinks and greens, and provided many artists of the time a framework upon which to develop their own abstractions. They had an immediate impact on the art world. TIME art critic Robert Hughes called the "Woman" paintings "the most memorable images of sexual insecurity in American culture." Dealing with complex human emotions, mixing ugliness with beauty, abstraction with beauty, de Kooning's work would enthrall and confuse people throughout his career. Born in Rotterdam, Holland in 1904, de Kooning came to America in 1926 determined to become an artist. The Great Depression presented an opportunity for the struggling de Kooning. Employment in the Federal Arts Project in 1935 led to his inclusion in a show of young painters, and by 1948, his own exhibition. A painter for six decades, he found critical -- and financial-- success in everything from realism to Pop Art. Many of his works regularly sold for more than $1 million. In 1987, his "Pink Lady," painted during World War II, fetched $3.63 million at auction. Two years later, his 1955 masterpiece "Interchange" sold for $20.6 million. For de Kooning, painting was living, and he pursued his art obsessively, covering a remarkable range of styles. But even though an exhibit of 40 paintings he created in the 1980s, now being shown at the New York's Museum of Modern Art, are huge works no critic would dare label abstract expressionist, de Kooning will always be associated for his contributions to that movement. Much to his distaste. "Style is a fraud," he once said. "You are with a group or a movement because you can't help it."