Opening Willem de Kooning: Rotterdam - New York

Opening Programme

With a museum ticket:

12 p.m. to 5 p.m., every hour: Slow Looking: Spend 15 minutes with Man in Wainscott (1969) by Willem de Kooning, guided by a host. Together, you explore different ways of looking at an abstract painting. Starts every hour on the hour. Duration: 15 minutes. Join at the painting in the All Directions exhibition.

1 p.m. to 1:30 p.m.: Lecture by Wim Pijbes: Willem de Kooning: Rotterdam - New York

Free admission:

2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m.: Celebratory opening of the sculptures on the quay, with a musical performance by Carlos Ayuso's Wild Bunch – From New Orleans to New York, a group of jazz musicians that draw inspiration from the Roaring Twenties.

The Quay of Departure

On 18 July 2026, it is exactly one hundred years since the 22-year-old Willem de Kooning left the quays of his birthplace, Rotterdam. Hidden aboard the cargo ship SS Shelley, he travelled to New York. He departed from a city in full bloom: Rotterdam in the Roaring Twenties was developing into a vibrant port city of global significance.

From this summer, Seated Woman (1969), Standing Figure (1969-1984) and Reclining Figure (1969-1982) stand on the waterfront of the city where he grew up. Together, they tell a story about migration, the journey of an artist, and the unseen connection between the young house painter who slipped away by night and the internationally celebrated artist who, decades later, could look back at Rotterdam and see her anew.

From Hofplein to Fenix

The three bronze sculptures come from Hofplein, where they are temporarily unavailable to the public due to redevelopment works. On the quay where De Kooning boarded the SS Shelley in 1926, they find a temporary home at the museum about migration. Here, stories are told about leaving, being on the move, and finding a new home.

Inside Fenix, the painting Man in Wainscott (1969) is on display in the permanent collection. De Kooning painted it beneath the open skies of Long Island on the Atlantic coast. In the atrium stands a smaller model of Standing Figure, on loan from the ABN AMRO Foundation.

Publication

This illustrated publication brings to life the vibrant Rotterdam in which De Kooning grew up and developed as an artist, both at the academy and at the design firm Giddings & Zonen. At the same time, it sketches New York in the 1920s, where, like many others, he arrived as a migrant and began a new life.

There, Willem de Kooning grew into one of the most influential artists of the twentieth century. The publication includes contributions by Anne Kremers (Fenix), Wim Pijbes (Droom en Daad) and Ludo van Halem (Rijksmuseum).

Lecture

During the opening, Wim Pijbes will give a talk about his contribution to the book. The talk will take place at the back of the exhibition All Directions, on the east side of the museum, and is accessible with a museum admission ticket.

Design: Irma Boom