Robert Rauschenberg, 1953. He bought a Willem de Kooning, asked for permission, then erased it. SFMOMA.
Erased de Kooning Drawing is an early work of American artist Robert Rauschenberg, from 1953. This conceptual work presents an almost blank piece of paper in a gilded frame. It was created in 1953 when Rauschenberg erased a drawing he obtained from the abstract expressionist and Dutch-American artist Willem de Kooning. Rauschenberg's lover and fellow artist Jasper Johns later framed it in a gilded frame and added a written caption to mimic the framing style of the Royal Academy and monogramming found on Renaissance drawings and prints. The caption reads: "Erased de Kooning Drawing, Robert Rauschenberg, 1953". It has been in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) since 1998. SFMOMA describes the work as a "drawing [with] traces of drawing media on paper with a label and gilded frame."