Willem Dooijewaard is the brother of the 16 years older Jacob (Jaap) Dooijewaard, who, like Willem, is a painter. Without being influenced by his older brother, Willem Dooijewaard also chose the artistic profession of painting.

Willem dreamed about travelling, which he did a lot during his life. After a stay in the Dutch East Indies he would go on several voyages. He travelled to Mongolia, China, Japan, Tibet, India and Tunisia. In those distant countries, amid strange and exotic peoples, Willem Dooijewaard created his major works.

In 1933 Willem and his wife took up their residence in the house of his brother Jaap in Blaricum. Both brothers now lived under the same roof, but they worked separate in their own studio. They were good friends with William and Anna Singer (from the current Singer Museum in Laren, The Netherlands). In 1919 William and Anna invited the two brothers at their home in Norway. The Norwegian landscapes Willem painted in this period are exceptional compared to his other work.

In 1937 Willem and his wife travelled to the south of France, where he painted landscapes and cityscapes. In Nice he met the director of the Opera House and soon he was permitted access to the rehearsal rooms, where the dancers practised. Willem had the opportunity to make beautiful drawings and sketches after ballerinas and ‘can can’ dancers. This period is also considered as a separate chapter in his oeuvre.

After the Second World War, a time when Willem painted little, he and his wife left in 1948 for a trip to Morocco. Willem was very impressed by the mysterious nature of the veiled women he saw, so he arranged some to pose for him as a model. As a result, Willem painted several beautiful Asian women and harem girls, by many considered as one of his best works.  

H.H. van Calcar, In het atelier van den schilder. Bezoeken bij Nederlandsche beeldende kunstenaars van dezen tijd, part I, Amsterdam 1941, p. 45-52;
Jan P. Koenraads, De Gebroeders Jacon en Willem Dooijewaard, 1966;
K. Beumer, De Singers en de Dooijewaards. De geschiedenis van een vriendschap, Zwolle 1999;
C. Denninger-Schreuder, Schilders van Laren, Bussum 2003, p. 82.