Willem de Kooning’s “Untitled XXV” Sold For $66.3 Million At Auction

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Willem de Kooning’s “Untitled XXV” was sold late Tuesday at Christie’s in New York for $66.3 million, a record for a work by the abstract artist and for post-war contemporary art. The imposing work, which measures 7 by 6.5 feet (2 by 2.2 meters), was painted by the Dutch-American artist in 1977 and is emblematic of the energetic, multicolor brush strokes he used in his work of the mid 1970s. The painting is inspired by the landscapes reflected in the water in Long Island, New York, where the artist lived. Christie’s auction house initially valued “Untitled XXV” at $40 million. When the painting was auctioned in 2006, it sold for $27.1 million, then a record for any work of post-war and contemporary art. The night of contemporary and post-war art of the British auction house also included works by Jean Dubuffet, Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, among others.