Jan Toorop

Jan Toorop (1858, Purworejo, Indonesia - 1928, The Hague, The Netherlands) was a Dutch-Indonesian painter, who worked in various styles including Symbolism, Art Nouveau, and Pointillism. From 1882 to 1886 he lived in Brussels where he joined Les XX (Les Vingts), a group of artists centred on the Belgian painter James Ensor (1860-1949). After his marriage to Annie Hall (1860-1929), an English woman and model, in 1886, he alternated his time between The Hague, England, and Brussels, and after 1890 also the Dutch seaside town of Katwijk aan Zee. During this period he developed his unique Symbolist style with dynamic, unpredictable lines based on Javanese motifs, highly stylised willowy figures, and curvilinear designs. From 1897 he lived for 20 years in the seaside town of Domburg in Zeeland where he worked with a group of artists including Marinus Zwart (1882-1970) and Piet Mondrian (1877-1944). In 1905 he converted to Catholicism and began producing primarily religious works. He also created book illustrations, posters, and stained-glass designs. Toorop died on 3 March 1928 in The Hague in The Netherlands.