Though she was closely associated with the New York school of Abstract Expressionism, Elaine de Kooning embraced a painting practice that ranged from gestural abstraction to portraiture. The artist painted emotional landscape scenes, mythological subjects, and cultural icons such as John F. Kennedy. She often took inspiration from cave paintings. De Kooning studied at Hunter College, the Leonardo da Vinci Art School, and the American Artists School. She became involved with an avant-garde circle of artists that included her future husband, artist Willem de Kooning. Her work has been featured in shows at the Walker Art Center, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, and belongs in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, the Guggenheim Museum, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, and the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.