Willem De Kooning's Easter Monday

Abstract expressionism is an American art movement that developed in the 1940’s after World War II in New York City. It was the first uniquely American art movement to become well-known worldwide. This shifted the art world focus from Paris to America. It all started with a small group of affiliated artists who created a distinctive body of work, which can be described as psychological portraits. To create these psychological portraits, the artists used a technique known as action painting. Action painting is a freeform of expression where the artist uses their unconscious to move paint in an emotionally expressive way. Willem de Kooning’s Easter Monday is a cross between figurative art and abstract expressionism, thus, creating a real sense of ambiguity when viewing the painting. Easter Monday is an abstract urban landscape that uses
The relationships between buildings and light is clearly what inspired Kooning when creating Easter Monday. The artists’ use of negative space and bright colors indicates some light that has been blocked out and that some light is still permeating through in the spaces in between. There were a lot of renovations being done during the 1940’s so views of broken light were not uncommon. In fact, scenes like Easter Monday could be found all around the city during that time.
Kooning’s play with light and negative space really gives away that this painting is an urban landscape. These ideas are understood through his use of a vivid color scheme. Kooning jumps from blue to green to pink to yellow, which are, mostly primary colors. Kooning used the brighter colors to create a sense of light and reflections. To depict the skyscrapers, he took advantage of his use of negative space. The unpremeditated temperament of the painting stimulates the rapid pace and the abrasive sediment of New York