Excavation is de Kooning's

largest easel painting and the culminating work of his

late 1940s abstractions. >> Excavation began as a less
densely fitted picture. In-process photos show what looks like
an interior with a bed at the top. As he developed this, he added detail
in a complex pictorial activity, like making a jigsaw puzzle. Getting elements to
fit in with each
other in a way where you recognize them. But you are not stopped by them
as you look at the picture. De Kooning spoke of how painting
shouldn't have what he called hotspots, where you focus too much
on a particular area. As you look at it, it's a strange sense. The eye being able
to stop and look,
but not encouraged to stare too long. >> Earlier in his career, De Kooning was
influenced by the geometric
abstractions and collages of Cubism. >> The Cubist elements are mainly a big,
flat jigsaw puzzle of large, irregular shaped planes which
are obstructed from reality. We can't really quite tell
where they've come from. But we intuit that the figures
are from animals or from architecture. Which are then put together
in a way which is reminiscent of methods of pasting
together collages in Cubism. Where pieces of paper are put down and
moved around and arranged. But here it is far more complex. It's possible that in
making them some
areas were done by him trying out pieces of paper and doing the composition.