Abstraction as Legacy: de Kooning and the New York School on View at the Freedom Tower

The Museum of Art and Design (MOAD) at Miami Dade College is presenting Abstraction as Legacy in the Freedom Tower's Wolfson Gallery , featuring Willem de Kooning's Untitled VII (1979) — oil on canvas, made possible by the Kenneth C. Griffin Collection — alongside works by de Kooning's Abstract Expressionist peers.

In the first half of the 20th century, many looked to Paris and Pablo Picasso for innovation, or to Mexico City and Diego Rivera for grand gestures. De Kooning and his contemporaries changed that. Sometimes called action painting and commonly referred to as the New York School , their approach emphasized the movement of paint across the composition — fluid, quick brushstrokes that ruptured the art historical continuum.

De Kooning's works often rest on the precipice of abstraction and representation. In Untitled VII , a pink, fleshy palette dominates the composition — a canvas that rewards sustained looking, shifting between figuration and pure painterly gesture depending on where the eye lands.

Abstraction as Legacy is currently on view at the Freedom Tower, 600 Biscayne Blvd, Miami . For more information, visit moadmia.org .

For more upcoming events across South Florida, visit the Premier Guide Miami Events Calendar .

On Saturday, October 10, from 6:00 to 9:00 PM, the Freedom Tower hosts an evening of embodied exploration at the intersection of art, movement, and wellness. Performance artist Smita Sen will lead a guided tour of Abstraction as Legacy, drawing connections between the works on view and the language of her own practice — encouraging visitors to experience abstract art as something to be felt and moved through, not only seen.

Following the tour, immersive sound and wellness collective Ressonnance will compose a live response to the space and the works within it, dissolving the boundary between music and transcendence. Together, Sen and Ressonnance will guide participants through a performance that functions as an invitation: let the body lead, listen, and find in sound and motion a new way of moving through art, memory, and meaning. Registration is available at moadmia.org.

Through October 31, the Freedom Tower is participating in the Museum Mile Passport Program alongside Jungle Island, Miami Children's Museum, the Frost Museum of Science, and Museum of Miami. Pick up a passport at any participating venue, collect a stamp at each location, and earn gift shop discounts and additional perks. The program runs through Halloween.

Sharon Louden's Windows of Freedom Tower — 101 aluminum sheets commissioned to mark the building's centennial, crowning the Knight Skylight Gallery — has now been in place for a year. Over that time the gallery has hosted MOAD Moves yoga and dance classes, community receptions, MOAD Talks with artists, journalists, and historians, and a conversation with Louden herself.