Family tree Jacobs » Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)

Personal data Willem de Kooning 


Household of Willem de Kooning

He had a relationship with Joan Ward.

The relationship started


Child(ren):



Notes about Willem de Kooning

woonde na de scheiding van zijn ouders eerst bij zijn vader en, nadat de voogdij was geregeld, bij zijn moeder en oudere zuster, kunstschilder, overl. 19 maart 1997 Springs, East Hampton, New York, tr. 9 dec. 1943 Elaine Maria Catherine Fried, geb. New York 12 maart 1920, schilderes, docent en kunstcriticus, overl. Southampton, Long Island, 1 febr. 1989.
Willem de Kooning behoort tot de 25 meest invloedrijke kunstschilders van de 20ste eeuw (ARTnews, mei 1999). Hij volgde de kunstacademie in Rotterdam, die sinds enkele jaren zijn naam draagt: Willem de Koning Academie. In 1925 vertrok hij naar Brussel, en vertrok in 1926 vanuit Antwerpen naar de Verenigde Staten als verstekeling aan boord van de SS Shelley (aankomst Newport News, Virginia op 15 augustus), vestigde zich eerst in Hoboken, New Jersey en verhuisde in 1927 naar een studio in Manhattan (West Forty-Fourth Street). Woonde daarna 143 West Twenty-first Street, 156 West Twenty-second Street [1936-], 63 Carmine Street [1944-], 831 Broadway [1958-]. Pas jaren later, toen hij al een bekend kunstenaar was, werd hij genaturaliseerd (13 maart 1962) als Amerikaans staatsburger. Op 14 sept. 1964 werd Willem de Kooning vanwege zijn grote invloed op de kunstontwikkeling in de Verenigde Staten door President Lyndon B. Johnson onderscheiden met de Presidential Medal of Freedom, de hoogste Amerikaanse onderscheiding. Hij verhuisde in juni 1963 van New York naar een zelf-ontworpen studio in Springs (Fireplace Road), Easthampton (Long Island) waar hij op 18 maart 1997 is overleden. Slechts tweemaal is Willem de Kooning kort teruggekeerd naar Nederland: in 1968 voor de opening van de retrospectieve tentoonstelling 'Willem de Kooning' in het Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, en in 1983 voor de opening van 'Willem de Kooning: The North Atlantic Light 1960 - 1983', eveneens in het Stedelijk. Al die tijd onderhield hij slechts sporadisch contact met zijn familie in Rotterdam. Zijn vertrek uit Rotterdam naar New York was ook min of meer vlucht, wég van de familie. In de literatuur over hem wordt vaak gewezen op de problematische verhouding met zijn moeder. In die visie zijn De Kooning's monumentale schilderijen naar het thema 'Woman' een verwijzing daarnaar.
In 1956 werd uit een relatie met de kunstenares Joan Ward een dochter van Willem de Kooning geboren
alensprijs Internationaal in 1968
1975, medaille van American Academy of Arts and Letters

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Timeline Willem de Kooning

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Ancestors (and descendant) of Willem de Kooning


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Historical events

Birthday April 24, 1904

  • The temperature on April 24, 1904 was between 4.7 °C and 15.7 °C and averaged 9.4 °C. There was 6.6 hours of sunshine (46%). The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the west-northwest. Source: KNMI
  • Koningin Wilhelmina (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from 1890 till 1948 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
  • In The Netherlands , there was from August 1, 1901 to August 16, 1905 the cabinet Kuijper, with Dr. A. Kuijper (AR) as prime minister.
  • In the year 1904: Source: Wikipedia
    • The Netherlands had about 5.4 million citizens.
    • January 23 » Ålesund Fire: the Norwegian coastal town Ålesund is devastated by fire, leaving 10,000 people homeless and one person dead. Kaiser Wilhelm II funds the rebuilding of the town in Jugendstil style.
    • February 7 » A fire begins in Baltimore, Maryland; it destroys over 1,500 buildings in 30 hours.
    • February 17 » Madama Butterfly receives its première at La Scala in Milan.
    • February 22 » The United Kingdom sells a meteorological station on the South Orkney Islands to Argentina; the islands are subsequently claimed by the United Kingdom in 1908.
    • June 16 » Eugen Schauman assassinates Nikolay Bobrikov, Governor-General of Finland.
    • December 6 » Theodore Roosevelt articulated his "Corollary" to the Monroe Doctrine, stating that the U.S. would intervene in the Western Hemisphere should Latin American governments prove incapable or unstable.

Day of death March 19, 1997

  • The temperature on March 19, 1997 was between 4.0 °C and 9.5 °C and averaged 6.6 °C. There was 5.9 mm of rain during 5.0 hours. There was 0.4 hours of sunshine (3%). The almost completely overcast was. The average windspeed was 3 Bft (moderate breeze) and was prevailing from the northwest. Source: KNMI
  • Koningin Beatrix (Huis van Oranje-Nassau) was from April 30, 1980 till April 30, 2013 sovereign of the Netherlands (also known as Koninkrijk der Nederlanden)
  • In The Netherlands , there was from Monday, August 22, 1994 to Monday, August 3, 1998 the cabinet a href="https://nl.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kabinet-Kok_I" class="extern">Kok I, with W. Kok (PvdA) as prime minister.
  • In the year 1997: Source: Wikipedia
    • The Netherlands had about 15.6 million citizens.
    • February 7 » NeXT merges with Apple Computer, starting the path to Mac OS X.
    • June 2 » In Denver, Timothy McVeigh is convicted on 15 counts of murder and conspiracy for his role in the 1995 bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, in which 168 people died. He was executed four years later.
    • July 27 » About 50 people are killed in the Si Zerrouk massacre in Algeria.
    • August 29 » At least 98 villagers are killed by the Armed Islamic Group of Algeria GIA in the Rais massacre, Algeria.
    • September 6 » The Funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales takes place in London. Well over a million people lined the streets and 2​⁄2 billion watched around the world on television.
    • September 26 » A Garuda Indonesia Airbus A300 crashes near Medan airport, killing 234.


Same birth/death day

Source: Wikipedia

Source: Wikipedia


About the surname De Kooning


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When copying data from this family tree, please include a reference to the origin:
Michael Jacobs, "Family tree Jacobs", database, Genealogy Online (https://www.genealogieonline.nl/stamboom-michael-jacobs/I31916.php : accessed May 12, 2025), "Willem de Kooning (1904-1997)".