Elaine de Kooning was an innovative painter, writer, and teacher from Brooklyn, New York. She was largely known for her work in Abstract Expressionism, and her subjects range from mythology to landscapes and portraiture. She worked in a range of modes from realism to abstraction to avoid developing a single style. Her travels often led to her inspiration for a piece, such as when she ventured to Mexico in the late 1950s and saw her first bullfight, a trip that inspired a series of bull paintings.