Elaine de Kooning Paints a Portrait (1976)

“I almost feel my portraits— portraits I’ve made—are now invading my privacy. When I have them around—to have all these people looking at me—it’s oppressive, and I always find portraits oppressive. But I find them, well, fascinating.”

In filmmaker Betty Jean Thiebaud’s own portrait of the Abstract Expressionist artist, Elaine de Kooning discusses her work as she paints a new portrait of her friend and fellow artist, Aristodimis Kaldis. Over de Kooning’s musings on Rembrandt, conceptual art, and experience vs. ideas in the artistic process, Thiebaud observes her in her studio, working briskly but with care and method, and in constant dialogue with her cohorts.