Donors, friends and guests with a privilege pass may book a single or multiple time slots here
Donors, friends and guests with a privilege pass may book a single or multiple time slots here
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In the painting Gezicht op de Maas, Charley Toorop (1891–1955) captures the Rotterdam river and harbour. The contours of the city stand out against a dark evening sky. The work was created during her stay in Rotterdam in the summer of 1926 and shows how strongly the energy of the port city affected her. Of the six paintings Toorop made during this period, only five were known for a long time. The sixth work was recently rediscovered and acquired by Stichting Droom en Daad. From 9 July, it can be seen by the public for the first time in the Depot of Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen.
In the summer of 1926, Charley Toorop stays at the Victoria Hotel in Rotterdam. The city becomes a source of inspiration. She draws and paints the vibrant nightlife, the sailors' bars, brothels, and jazz musicians who arrive in Europe aboard the ships of the Holland America Line. Gezicht op de Maas is also created during this Rotterdam period.
When Toorop stays in Rotterdam, the city is developing rapidly. The harbour is growing fast, new buildings are rising, and travellers, artists, and ideas from all over the world arrive via the quays. Rotterdam breathes the modernity of the 1920s. In this dynamic environment, Toorop meets, among others, filmmaker Joris Ivens, photographer Germaine Krull, and poet Hendrik Marsman. The city gives her work a new impulse. Here she develops the modern visual language with which she grows into one of the most striking artists of the twentieth century.
As a self-taught artist, Charley Toorop develops a powerful and distinctive realistic painting style. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen owns several works by Toorop. Among the highlights are Drie generaties (Three Generations, 1941–1950), in which she immortalised herself, her son, and her father in her own studio in Bergen. Also among them is her striking Zelfportret (Self-Portrait) from 1928.
