Triumphant close ...

... Late Revelations - The final works of Willem de Kooning get their due - Obit-Mag.com.

The late abstractions, painted when de Kooning suffered from dementia, close the show on a triumphant note. They’ve been denigrated for years because of his diminished mental and physical state during the 1980s. Many wondered how an artist who had lost his short-term memory, had difficulty writing, and could no longer sign his name could complete 26 paintings in 1987. See for yourself. Two of these, including one that Jasper Johns owns, hang in MoMA’s special exhibition galleries. Known as the White Paintings, the artist’s last burst of abstractions look fresh, frisky, timeless. It’s their polar opposite, the Neo-expressionist figures draped in angst and lauded during the 1980s, that now seem dated.