Willem de Kooning in his studio in East-Hampton, New York, 1966, photo by Daniel Frasnay

In 1959 de Kooning turned down an invitation for a retrospective from the Museum of Modern Art (New York). Of the invitation de Kooning said they treat the artist “like a sausage, tie him up at both ends, and stamp on the center ‘Museum of Modern Art,’ as if you’re dead and they own you.” He did however agree to the retrospective a few years later.   [t]