Charley Toorop, the powerful gaze of modern art looking to Van Gogh

A new exhibition at the Kröller-Müller Museum celebrates the intense bond between Charley Toorop (1891-1955) and Vincent van Gogh, the artist who more than any other marked his view of the world and art. 'Van Gogh was there for me even before I started painting, from the moment I became aware that I existed,' the Dutch artist declared in 1953. That sense of deep, almost spiritual presence was at the heart of the exhibition 'Charley Toorop. Love for Van Gogh'.

Toorop was born into an artistic environment: his father was the Symbolist painter Jan Toorop, one of the first promoters of Van Gogh's works in the Netherlands. Yet her destiny seemed to be something else: as a young woman, Charley devoted herself to music before choosing in 1917 to devote herself entirely to painting. A choice that led her to develop a powerful, personal style, steeped in realism and inner tension. In the 1920s, the most formative period of his career, Toorop moved closer to the avant-garde - from Cubism to Expressionism - but remained faithful to a direct, intense, even disturbing representation of reality. Just like Van Gogh, he refuses to compromise in his choice of subjects: he paints workers, peasants, faces marked by fatigue and suffering. His painting is both a social denunciation and a spiritual quest.

With the memory of the First World War still alive, Toorop shared with many intellectuals of his time the desire for cultural and political renewal. But his artistic journey remained anchored in a deep fascination with the human psyche and nature. 'Realism as the starting point, inspired representation as the goal', is the principle by which he defines his poetics. His talent does not go unnoticed. H.P. Bremmer, influential critic and art advisor to Helene Kröller-Müller, called her the 'natural heir' of Van Gogh, acquiring many of her works for the museum that now boasts the largest public collection of her work.

The Kröller-Müller exhibition, with special loans from museums and private collections, recounts the crucial moment in his artistic development and highlights the silent but powerful dialogue between his paintings and those of Van Gogh. Among the works on display are three recently rediscovered paintings, once considered lost, which the museum had launched an appeal to find. With this exhibition, Charley Toorop reaffirms himself as a central figure in Dutch modern art. An artist who, with his unmistakable style and love of truth, continues to speak to us through the sharp, deep light of his portraits. Precisely that same light that Van Gogh first illuminated.

"Charley Toorop. Love for Van Gogh'.