An expansive exhibition titled "William de Kooning Drawing" has opened at the Art Institute of Chicago, featuring some 200 works spanning the artist's seven-decade career. The show includes paintings, bronze sculptures, and mixed-media pieces, with a focus on de Kooning's drawings—from early photorealistic studies like *Dish With Jugs* (ca. 1919–21) to later experimental works made with his eyes closed. Loans come from museums and private collections worldwide, and a version of the show will travel to the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam this fall.
The exhibition matters because it foregrounds de Kooning's draftsmanship, an often-overlooked aspect of his practice, and traces his development from a teenage student in Rotterdam to a titan of Abstract Expressionism. By gathering early sketches, portraits, and late-career drawings alongside his better-known paintings, the show offers a comprehensive view of how drawing underpinned his entire artistic output. It also highlights the enduring relevance of de Kooning's work and the continued scholarly interest in his process.