“

When I painted Frank O'Hara, [in 1962] Frank was standing there. First I painted the whole structure of his face; then I wiped out the face, and when the face was gone, it was more Frank than when the face was there.

— Elaine de Kooning

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "When I painted Frank O'Hara, [in 1962] Frank was standing there. First I painted the whole structure of his face; then I wiped out the face, and when the face was gone, it was more Frank than when the face was there." in the context of "as quoted in 'Locus Solus: The New York School of Poets' - 2015" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

Source: Wikiquote: "Elaine de Kooning" (Quotes) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Elaine de Kooning

About Elaine de Kooning

Elaine de Kooning (March 12, 1918 - February 1, 1989) was an Abstract Expressionist and American Figurative Expressionist woman-painter in the post-World War II era. She wrote extensively on the art of the period and was an editorial associate for Art News magazine. On December 9, 1943, she married painter Willem de Kooning.