Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen is presenting a large-scale retrospective of her work, displaying 120 paintings, among which sixteen self-portraits. The exhibition has been put together by Marja Bosma, who has also written a book about the life and work of Charley Toorop. Both the exhibition and the book make it easy to see how key works fit into the larger body of her work that is characterised by a confrontational realism.
As daughter of the famous symbolist Jan Toorop, Charley grew up with a deep interest in culture. At first she concentrated on music, but eventually chose painting.
After an unsuccessful marriage to Henk Fernhout, with whom she had three children, Charley Toorop settled in Bergen. Painting and her artistic calling always occupied a primary position in her life. Her house ‘De Vlerken’ was a meeting place for a select circle of artistic friends, which included Piet Mondriaan, Adriaan Roland Holst and Gerrit Rietveldt.
For Charley Toorop, painting was the ultimate form of self-realisation. A perfect example of this is the self-portrait from 1928 that was recently acquired by Museum Boijmans van Beuningen and that will be displayed at the exhibition.
The retrospective ‘Surtout pas des principes! Charley Toorop’ will be accompanied by a richly illustrated catalogue.
The exhibition ‘Surtout pas des principes! Charley Toorop’ has been made possible thanks to the support of the Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds and the K.F. Hein Fonds.
The exhibition will be opened on Saturday the 27th of September at 3.45 pm. in the auditorium.