Woman

While I was skimming through the pictures that are on the SFMOMA website, this one stood out to me. Although I am not clear about the “right” meaning of this picture, it appealed to me because of the way it has represented woman and desire in such a raw manner. This representation of woman deviates from the ones that are more known, in which the breast of the women are exaggerated and they are being depicted as demons with huge eyes and teeth. The aggression that is characteristic of De Kooning’s pictures of women is absent in this picture. Although this is still a distorted representation of woman, the woman in this picture seems tormented, with her arms around her knees, hiding away from the world. Yet, at the same time, she stares out at us with a look on her face that suggests that she knows something we do not. It is smug and coy at the same time. I think this epitomizes the perception of woman as desired by man. To me, the development of the representation of woman shows how De Kooning grows to understand this better. It shows how the conflicting images of helplessness and aggression create a desirable image of a woman. Being enigmatic makes it desirable. At the same time, the strokes in this painting reinforce that. This image does not have a defined structure, making it seem unclear. It is almost as if it is “coming through in waves”. We are almost able to grasp it, but it eludes us with its unclear structure. I like how this image makes viewer feel like it is almost understandable but it is not. The shape seems to be almost defined but it is not. This relationship that the viewer establishes with the images parallels the sexual desire that men have for women that I believe De Kooning was trying to represent.