Willem de Kooning at Work traces the artist’s artistic development, with drawing as its central thread. For de Kooning, drawing was not a preparatory stage, but the very foundation of his practice: a space for research and experimentation through which he continually explored new expressive possibilities.

Bringing together more than 120 works, the exhibition offers insight into the creative process of an artist in constant transformation, who continually questioned and re-evaluated his own work. The exhibition allows visitors to observe de Kooning as he draws, experiments, reworks, makes mistakes and starts again. From seemingly rapid drawings, in which gesture is accompanied by an intense process of thought, to works made with his eyes closed, and finally to those in which the boundary between painting and drawing becomes increasingly blurred, what emerges is an artistic inquiry that never ceases to question itself.

One hundred years after Willem de Kooning left Rotterdam to begin a new life in New York, the Rijksmuseum brings the artist back to the Netherlands, offering a fresh perspective on his career, with a focus on the research and experimentation that shaped every stage of his practice.

Date: from October 9, 2026 to January 17, 2027
More Info: Rijksmuseum

Image: Untitled
c. 1937
Matte opaque paint, carbon drawing pencil, and graphite pencil on wove paper
22,4 x 39,7 cm
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; purchase with funds from Frances and Sydney Lewis 77.34.
© 2026 The Willem de Kooning Foundation/ Pictoright, Amster

06/11/26