Born on the shores of Lake Van (Armenia) and emigrated to the United States  in 1920,Arshile Gorky (c.1902-1948) was one of the greatest American  painters of the twentieth century and a seminal figure in the Abstract  Expressionist movement.
Meyer Schapiro called him a «fervent scrutinizer» of paintings,and it was  certainly a crucial element of Gorky’s self-teaching:the ability to look at art  and pick out the fundamental aspects in the works of the masters.Something  corroborated by the assessment of his close friend De Kooning:“for some  mysterious reason,he knew lots more about painting,and art––he just knew it  by nature––things i was supposed to know and feel and understand––he really  did it better.He had an extraordinary gift for hitting the nail on the head.”  Although Gorky’s life was cut short by his suicide in 1948,the impressive body  of work that he left behind secured his reputation as the last of the great  surrealist painters and one of the first abstract expressionists.