DE KOONING'S DEMENTIA
DE KOONING'S DEMENTIA
Willem De Kooning was born is 1904 and died in 1997. During his lifetime he didn't know he had dementia as he was never diagnosed while he was alive, he was actually diagnosed after his death. While analysing his paintings throughout his artistic career there is some evidence to show that dementia did, in fact, affect his style/way of painting. The brushstroke patterns seen in his earlier work were different when compared to later paintings. When compared to other artists like Monet, for example, whose style stayed the same throughout their lifetime, De Kooning work definitely stands out as his work changing in more recent work.
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With this being a good way to look at how dementia affected his artwork, it doesn't make complete sense when looking at other abstract painters like Picasso who work constantly changed throughout his lifetime. by using this logic it would seem that Picasso might have had dementia as well to affect his work in a similar way to De Kooning.
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let's analyse this more by looking at the first painting De Kooning did and the last painting he did.
The First piece he Painted.
Seated Woman
1940
The Last piece he Painted.
Devil at the Keyboard.
1976
when you compare these two pieces you would think they were made by two different artists, but that is not the case, in fact, I can see a deterioration in the process of his work explained through these pieces. You can see how it becomes a lot simpler with no definition in the brush stroked and the subject of the piece can also show a difference in mental state. I'm analysis I can see an essence of dementia in De Kooning's pieces based on the difference between the two and the drastic change in titles as well.