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An abstract painting of a large yellowish shape against a teal background with red accents.

The painting shows a large, mottled yellow shape on the left, the top of the shape is flat rising to a mound which slopes down on the right and angles to the left. A brown rectangle extends out to the right. The bottom is formed by two undulating mounds. The figure is set on a ground of light brown on the left, dark brown on the right. The upper left is yellow green, the rest is teal, an orange disc set is in the center. Beneath the orange disc is an orange triangle and half-moon set on the rounded side.

Gallery Text

Trained as a commercial artist, de Kooning moved easily between figurative and abstract modes. Though his later canvases would come to epitomize the vigorous gestural style of the abstract expressionist movement, his early work reveals the influence of Joan Miró’s biomorphic, surrealist works. In the 1930s, as this work demonstrates, de Kooning began to paint more sparely, depicting fewer elements dispersed over fields of color. This approach is also evident in the studies he made for the mural division of the Federal Art Project, where he worked with other artists who would dominate the avant-garde at mid-century in America. The suggestive forms that emerge from de Kooning’s organic abstraction, like the inkblots of a Rorschach test, may have inspired the painting’s playful title, pulled from a well-known children’s nonsense rhyme.

Identification and Creation

Object Number
2007.31
People
Willem de Kooning, American (Rotterdam, Netherlands 1904 - 1997 East Hampton, NY)
Title
Untitled (The Cow Jumps Over the Moon)
Classification
Paintings
Work Type
painting
Date
1937-1938
Culture
American
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/318663

Location

Location
Level 1, Room 1310, Modern and Contemporary Art, Surrealism
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Physical Descriptions

Medium
Oil on masonite
Dimensions
52 x 93 cm (20 1/2 x 36 5/8 in.)
frame: 71 x 112 x 5 cm (27 15/16 x 44 1/8 x 1 15/16 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: l.r.: de Kooning
  • (not assigned): No opportunity to inspect back as yet.

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
Willem de Kooning; to Martin Craig, New York, New York, (c. 1938 - 1958), sold; to Dr. and Mrs. Joseph Coltrera, Brooklyn, New York (through [Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York, New York]), sold; to Harvard University Art Museums, 2007.

NOTE: Per a letter in the curatorial file the work was a trade between de Kooning and Martin Craig.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Dr. Ernest G. Stillman, Class of 1907, by exchange
Copyright
© The Willem de Kooning Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York
Accession Year
2007
Object Number
2007.31
Division
Modern and Contemporary Art
Contact
am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu
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Publication History

  • Willem de Kooning: Garden in Delft, exh. cat., Mitchell-Innes & Nash (2004), pp. 13-14, repr. p. 25 (plate 2), pp. 26-27 (detail)
  • Willem de Kooning, exh. cat., BA-CV Kunstforum (Vienna, 2005), p. 45, 49, cat. 1, ill. p. 44
  • Thomas W. Lentz, ed., Harvard University Art Museums Annual Report 2006-7, Harvard University Art Museums (Cambridge, 2008), p. 21, ill.
  • John Elderfield and Lauren Mahony, de Kooning: A Retrospective, exh. cat., ed. David Frankel, The Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY, 2011), pp. 109, 113, 115-116, cat. 28, pl. 28, ill.
  • Terry Winters, Depth Charge: Terry Winters Talks with John Elderfield about De Kooning, Artforum (New York, 2011), XLIX, No. 10, pp. 328-335, p. 330, ill.

Exhibition History

  • De Kooning: A Retrospective, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, 09/18/2011 - 01/09/2012
  • 32Q: 1310 Surrealism, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 04/14/2025; Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 11/16/2014 - 01/01/2050

Subjects and Contexts

  • Collection Highlights

Related Works

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of Modern and Contemporary Art at am_moderncontemporary@harvard.edu