In 2015, it was exactly sixty years ago that Charley Toorop painted her Self-Portrait in the last year of her life. Behind her face, we see a black curtain, half drawn, with a wintery garden and bare tree branches; symbols of approaching death. This work is on display in the exhibition “Charley at Home in Bergen.” Its remarkable feature is that it includes works from various periods, from 1921 to 1955, the year of Toorop’s death.
Charley at home in Bergen
Collaboration
Charley at Home in Bergen is a collaboration with Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar; seven works are from their collection. Due to renovations, they were supposed to be moved to the depot for a few months, but instead they are on display in Bergen, where Charley Toorop had her studio. They will return after the reopening of the Bergen School gallery at Stedelijk Museum Alkmaar. Several works from the Kranenburgh collection will then also be on permanent display in Alkmaar. These include paintings by Leo Gestel, Jan Sluijters, and Else Berg.
John Raedecker
Works from the Kranenburgh Collection will also be on display during Charley at Home in Bergen, including paintings and photographs of Charley’s studio by Eva Besnyö. A display case displays what Charley wrote to her friend John Raedecker, a sculptor, shortly before her death in 1955. The letters were donated to Kranenburgh by his son, Noek Raedecker, and have never been shown before. John Raedecker created, among other things, the monument on Dam Square in Amsterdam. He also created the statue of Jan Toorop, Charley’s father, also on display in the exhibition. Father and son Raedecker also appear in one of Charley’s paintings.
