Willem de Kooning: A Life in Fragments Born April 24, 1904, in Rotterdam, Netherlands, Willem de Kooning’s life was a complex tapestry woven from ambition, self-doubt, and an unrelenting pursuit of artistic expression. His early years were marked by a profound sense of displacement – his family moved to the United States when he was just two, settling in Trenton, New Jersey, and later relocating to Springs, Long Island, where he would…