Willem de Kooning was born in Rotterdam, Holland on April 24, 1904.  His  father, Leenert, was a wine and beer distributor who won custody of young Willem when his parents separated about five years after his birth.  His mother, Cornelia Nobel de Kooning, ran a tough seamen's bar, and snatched the boy back soon after.  At the age of twelve, with  elementary school behind him, de Kooning entered an informal apprenticeship with commercial artists and designers, Jan and (showing 500 of 13233 characters).