''Police Gazette'' is a 1955
abstract painting
Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.
Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19t ...
by
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter El ...
, which is currently in private hands.
Painting style
''Police Gazette'' is a landscape painted on canvas using abstract elements, and colors such as yellow, green and red. It is a painting with simple geometric forms, creating a contrast between the formal elements that compose the artwork. It was this painting that promoted
Willem de Kooning
Willem de Kooning (; ; April 24, 1904 – March 19, 1997) was a Dutch-American abstract expressionist artist. He was born in Rotterdam and moved to the United States in 1926, becoming an American citizen in 1962. In 1943, he married painter El ...
amongst the most important contemporary
abstract painter
Abstract art uses visual language of shape, form, color and line to create a composition which may exist with a degree of independence from visual references in the world.
Western art had been, from the Renaissance up to the middle of the 19t ...
s.
History and price
''Police Gazette'' was sold in 1965 for the first time for $37,000.
In 1973, the Swiss art dealer
Ernst Beyeler
Ernst Beyeler (16 July 1921 – 25 February 2010) was a Swiss art dealer and collector, who became "Europe’s pre-eminent dealer in modern art", according to ''The New York Times'', and "the greatest art dealer since the war", according to ''Th ...
paid US$180,000, setting a new record for the artist.
Since then, the painting went through the hands of known
art collector
A private collection is a privately owned collection of works (usually artworks) or valuable items. In a museum or art gallery context, the term signifies that a certain work is not owned by that institution, but is on loan from an individual ...
s, such as
Sidney Janis
Sidney Janis (July 8, 1896 – November 23, 1989) was a wealthy clothing manufacturer and art collector who opened an art gallery in New York in 1948. His gallery quickly gained prominence, for he not only exhibited work by the Abstract Expressio ...
,
Eugene V. Thaw and Mrs. Scull.
In 2006, it was bought by
Steven A. Cohen for US$63.5 million.
See also
*
List of most expensive paintings
This is a list of the highest known prices paid for paintings. The current record price is approximately United States dollar, US$450.3 million (which includes Commission (remuneration), commission), paid for Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi (L ...
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Police Gazette
1955 paintings
Paintings by Willem de Kooning