Harold Rosenberg 1956

Elaine de Kooning painted this portrait of Harold Rosenberg, likely in oil on canvas, and it looks like she went at it with real gusto! The earthy palette, all browns and creams, feels very mid-century New York. The paint is applied in broad, gestural strokes; you can almost see the artist moving around the canvas. There’s something really alive in the way she handles the medium. Just look at the drips and splatters around his feet – it’s like she’s letting the painting breathe. That splash of yellow up in the right corner, what's that about? It could be a formal device, a way of balancing all that earthiness. Or maybe it’s just a burst of pure joy! De Kooning's work reminds me of Alice Neel, in that both artists managed to capture something essential about their subjects without getting bogged down in details. For both of them, art is a space of possibility, where meaning is always in motion.