Willem de Kooning: Rotterdam New York - Willem de Kooning

Tracing De Kooning's formative migration from Rotterdam to New York: a portrait of the two cities that shaped the artist and the person

One hundred years ago, 22-year-old Willem de Kooning (1904–97) left the quays of his hometown of Rotterdam for New York City. It was the Roaring Twenties and Rotterdam was in its heyday, transforming into a world-class cultural port city right as De Kooning left it behind. Stowing himself away on the cargo ship Shelley, De Kooning traveled to New York City. Waiting for him across the ocean was an unrivaled downtown art scene which De Kooning would soon find himself at the center of.
This illustrated publication showcases a vibrant version of Rotterdam, the city where De Kooning began his career at the design firm Giddings & Zonen. At the same time, it sketches a vivid picture of 1920s New York, where the artist, like many others, arrived as a migrant and began a new life. It was here that he emerged as one of the greatest and most influential artists of the 20th century. This publication is produced in collaboration with Fenix, Rotterdam's art museum on migration, where three of De Kooning's sculptures are on temporary display to commemorate 100 years since the artist's departure from the city of his birth.