How big is this painting? I know his work pretty well and often those pieces are pretty big. You just can’t put it in your purse and walk off. So that part of the story confuses me.
It’s not a bad de Kooning: action painting, guys. Yes, and the hooters are obvious. He worked along with Pollock. There is a good deal of energy and complexity of space in these works, but, yes, it helps to take a course in modern art to really understand it (if not necessarily like it).
LOL. I took a history of art class in college. I don't want to understand it.
A painting is like a joke. If you have to explain it, well, you know.....
That puzzled me, too. I was going to make the snarky suggestion that the mystery man stuffed it in a trash container, knowing that the maintenance people would not see anything amiss, and the thieves went through the dumpster later. But since you like the painting, I will withhold the snark.
Perhaps they used the old "duct tape it to the back of another painting" trick, and retrieved it later. I'm sure Maxwell Smart could come up with more.
All of my leftist progressive relatives took political science courses in college. They think I'm dumb because I don't get Marxism.
I don't care what you study. That painting is not art.
The more I understand that type painting, the more I find it repulsive.
There's a documentary on this theft on Youtube. The woman distracted the guard while the man went upstairs and cut the painting out of its frame. The painting ended up with cracks in the paint indicating that it had been rolled up.
I would estimate the size as about 30 inches wide by 36 inches tall. It was hidden in the suspect couple's master bedroom behind the entrance door on a small section of wall not visible from outside the room.
A couple of things.
I am struck by the balance between tension and calm that de Kooning achieved in this piece, how he precisely reconciled slashing lines, shapes and color to achieve such visual harmony. I really like the impact it makes on the eye as well as on the mind.
It takes exposure to appreciate things. A simple example. I knew nothing of Jazz music until I was in college when I needed some credits and took a semester of the history of jazz. Wow! I absolutely loved it and learned to appreciate the complexities of a musical form unfamiliar to me, and it changed my perception of music altogether.
And finally this:
De gustibus non disputandum est
In matters of taste, there can be no disputes