Willem de Kooning: Rotterdam – New York
Anne Kremers, Wim Pijbes, Ludo van Halem (Eds.)
FENIX & Nai010, 2026
€24,95
‘Willem de Kooning. Rotterdam New York’ sheds light on a lesser-known period in the life of one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. One hundred years after De Kooning left Rotterdam as a stowaway to build a new life in New York, this richly illustrated publication returns to his origins.
The book shows how Rotterdam in the 1920s—a rapidly growing port city full of cultural innovation—formed the foundation for De Kooning’s development. His education at the academy and his work at the design agency Giddings & Zonen proved to have a major influence on his later artistic career.
At the same time, the publication follows his arrival in New York, where he started a new life as a migrant and eventually grew into one of the founders of abstract expressionism. With contributions from Anne Kremers, Wim Pijbes, and Ludo van Halem, the book connects art history, migration, and urban development in an accessible and richly illustrated narrative. This publication appears in collaboration with Fenix, the Rotterdam museum about migration, and coincides with the commemoration of De Kooning’s departure from Rotterdam and the exhibition Willem de Kooning at Work at the Rijksmuseu
ISBN: 9789465490052
