JULY 13, 1999 – Paul McCartney displayed 73 paintings at the Kunstforum Lyz gallery in the German town of Siegen. According to McCartney, he did not begin painting until 1982, as he had always been reluctant to put brush to canvas because he didn’t feel qualified. “Someone said life begins at forty, and I wanted to begin, but nothing began,” McCartney told reporters at a press conference at the German gallery. “I had this problem … that I don’t paint.” But his friend, painter Willem de Kooning, persuaded him to start. “He was one of the first people to liberate me.” De Kooning was a family friend and Paul and Linda would always visit him when they were on Long Island. It was probably watching de Kooning in action that inspired Paul to do his first canvases.
