This was recently found in a couple's home after they died.
Turns out it was stolen.
You reminded me of a scene form Woody Allen's "Play It Again, Sam," which involved a Jackson Pollack painting instead of a de Kooning, but the joke works with either. Max, Woody Allen's character, who is newly single, is at an art museum with his best friend's wife to meet and maybe pick up some women. They see a young Goth chick standing by herself gazing up at a huge abstract painting. Max decides to approach her with this ice breaker. What I love is the contrast between her ponderous existence and his obvious superficiality:
MAX : That's quite a lovely Jackson Pollock.
GOTH CHICK : Yes, it is.
MAX : What does it say to you?
GOTH CHICK : It restates the negativeness of the universe. The hideous, lonely emptiness of existence. Nothingness. The predicament of man forced to live in a barren, godless eternity like a tiny flame, flickering in an immense void, with nothing but waste, horror and degradation forming a useless straight-jacket in a black, absurd cosmos.
MAX : What are you doing Saturday night?
GOTH CHICK : Committing suicide.
MAX : What about Friday night? (she looks at him and walks away)
GOTH CHICK : Yes, it is.
MAX : What does it say to you?
GOTH CHICK : It restates the negativeness of the universe. The hideous, lonely emptiness of existence. Nothingness. The predicament of man forced to live in a barren, godless eternity like a tiny flame, flickering in an immense void, with nothing but waste, horror and degradation forming a useless straight-jacket in a black, absurd cosmos.
MAX : What are you doing Saturday night?
GOTH CHICK : Committing suicide.
MAX : What about Friday night? (she looks at him and walks away)
You can watch it here: