Man in Wainscott by Willem de Kooning on permanent display at Fenix

On the morning of 18 July 1926, twenty-two-year-old Willem de Kooning leaves Rotterdam hurriedly and without saying goodbye to New York. There he became a famous painter within abstract expressionism. Fenix bought his exuberant Man in Wainscott at Christie's Auction House in New York and the artwork will be on display from the opening in a specially designed daylight showcase. Tickets for Fenix are on sale via this link.

De Kooning painted it in 1969 during one of his most productive periods in his studio in East Hampton, on the far tip of Long Island. The bright light of the Atlantic Ocean here regularly reminded him of the Netherlands.

He was born on Zaagmolenstraat and his uncle, who sailed for the Holland-America Line, told him about the United States and gave him an American football. Later, De Kooning discovered jazz and the Charleston in the thriving nightlife of the Maas city, and with friends he forged the plan to make the crossing. Like millions of others, he set off from one of Rotterdam's quays where Fenix also stands and chose to embark on a new life.

His first years here were difficult but when New York becomes the centre of art after World War II, America is ready for a home-made artist and Willem de Kooning is embraced as an American Master. Despite his international fame, De Kooning never denied his Rotterdam origins. In a letter to his father, he wrote: "And as I go to bed, I think of the Zaagmolenstraat."

Man in Wainscott

The artwork depicts a figure that almost seems to dissolve in a turbulent, colourful landscape. The figure cannot be separated from its surroundings. It shows De Kooning's characteristic exuberant working method, combining drawings, collages and printing techniques with oil paint. The title refers to Wainscott, a hamlet on Long Island, where De Kooning built his own studio in 1963 far from the hustle and bustle of New York. Here he finds a new approach to painting the human figure, not as an isolated subject, but included in an environment as changeable as the person himself.

Only twice before was Man in Wainscott on public display, in 1976 at the famous Galerie Beyeler in Basel and in 1981 at the Nassau County Museum on Long Island. That same year, Norman Lear (1922 - 2023), one of Hollywood's best-known television producers and multiple Grammy winner, bought the painting for his collection. In the Netherlands, we know Norman Lear mainly from television series All in the Family. Norman Lear devoted his life to philanthropy and founded People for the American Way and the Norman Lear Center, a promotion centre for the democratic values of the United States.

A documentary about him, Norman Lear: Just Another Version of You, was released in 2016. After his death in 2023, the extensive collection of highlights of America's recent art history was auctioned at Christie's New York where it was acquired for Fenix to allow this De Kooning permanent display in his hometown.

Stowaway

Anne Kremers, director Fenix: ''De Kooning's migration story is as colourful as his work. He began his life in poverty in Rotterdam-North, boarded a ship as a stowaway without a valid passenger ticket almost a hundred years ago and ended up as a celebrated artist in New York. It is almost symbolic that this painting from his heyday is now on display in a former dock shed in the city he left behind.''