The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of July 8, 2026

Five Women

1952

Willem de Kooning

(American, born The Netherlands, 1904–1997)
America
graphite on paper
Sheet: 44.5 x 72.4 cm (17 1/2 x 28 1/2 in.)
Purchased with funds donated by Frank Bunts 2026.14
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

Although his early reputation was built on painting, de Kooning was an avid draftsman known for his experimental techniques—which included occasionally drawing with his eyes closed.

Description

Willem de Kooning was known for his ongoing Women series, which he began around 1950. These works incorporated both figuration and abstraction, depicting the female form with expressive, angular, and layered marks. Five Women depicts a group of figures thought to reference Pablo Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907), which de Kooning would have seen at New York's Museum of Modern Art in 1949. De Kooning drew his subject with a sharpened graphite pencil before smearing the marks with an eraser in a process that recalled his paintings.
  • by 1979-1987
    Wayne Anderson, Boston
    1987
    (sale, Christie’s New York, May 6, 1987, no. 119, sold to private collection, Geneva)
    1987-?
    Private collection, Geneva
    ?-?
    (Philip Samuels Fine Art, St. Louis)
    1989
    (sale, Christie’s New York, May 3, 1989, no. 28, sold to private collection, New York)
    1989-?
    Private collection, New York
    by 1990-?
    (Fayt Gallery, Belgium)
    ?-2013
    Countess Viviane de Witt [b. 1947], Paris
    2013
    (sale, Sotheby’s Paris, June 5, 2013, no. 11, sold to Herbert Kasper)
    2013-2020
    Herbert Kasper [1926-2020], New York
    2021
    (his sale, Christie’s New York, November 12, 2021, no. 235, sold to Robert Mnuchin)
    2021-2025
    Robert Mnuchin [1933-2025], New York
    2026
    (his sale, Sotheby's New York, May 15, 2026, sold to the Cleveland Museum of Art)
    2026-
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Contemporary Art (Part II). New York: Christie's, 1987. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 19, no. 119
    Twentieth-Century American Drawing: Three Avant-Garde Generations. Exh. Cat. New York: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1976. Mentioned: p. 69, no. 105
    Willem de Kooning. Exh. Cat. Pittsburgh: Carnegie Institute, 1979. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 114, no. 84
    Cummings, Paul, Jorn Merkert, and Claire Stoullig. Willem de Kooning: Drawings, Paintings, Sculpture. Exh. Cat. New York: Whitney Museum of American Art, 1983. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 58, no. 53
    Contemporary Art. New York: Christie's, 1989. Mentioned: p. 64, no. 28; Reproduced: p. 65
    Glimcher, Mildred. Willem de Kooning / Jean Dubuffet: The Women. Exh. Cat. New York: Pace Gallery, 1990. Mentioned and reproduced: pl. 15
  • Twentieth-Century American Drawing: Three Avant-Garde Generations. Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Staatliche Kunsthalle, Baden Baden; Kunsthalle Bremen. January – August 1976.
    Willem de Kooning. Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh. October 1979 – January 1980.
    Willem de Kooning: Drawings, Paintings, Sculpture. Whitney Museum of American Art; Akademie der Künste, Berlin; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris. December 1983 – September 1984.
    De Kooning / Dubuffet: The Women. Pace Gallery, New York. November 1990 – January 1991.
  • {{cite web|title=Five Women|url=false|author=Willem de Kooning|year=1952|access-date=08 July 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2026.14