Willem Pothast came from an artistic background: his father Hendrik Antoon (1847-1924) painted figure and genre pieces and his brother Bernard (B.J.C., 1882-1966) was a well-known representative of the Larense School, who mainly painted peasant interiors with women and children. Willem Pothast was educated at the Rijksnormaalschool in Amsterdam and the academy in The Hague. In addition to being a painter, he was also a drawing teacher, graphic designer and illustrator. In his capacity as lithographer and etcher he made many illustrations for picture books.