Toorop in Domburg

Toorop is considered the most important Dutch painter of Symbolism, with a life story that stretched from Java all the way to Domburg.

• Born and died: Jan Toorop was born on 20 December 1858 in Poerworedjo, on Java, and died on 3 March 1928 in The Hague.
• Education: at the age of nine he moved to the Netherlands and went on to study at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.
• Stylistic development: his work evolved through an early Impressionism, in which he captured light through colour, and a subsequent Divisionism, towards his distinctive, ornate Symbolist style.
• The heart of Domburg: from the start of the twentieth century, Toorop regularly stayed in Domburg, on Walcheren, where he formed the heart of a lively artists' colony.

The artists' colony of Domburg

As soon as Toorop settled in Domburg — which, thanks to the arrival of naturopath Dr Metzger, grew from 1897 into a fashionable spa town that even attracted European royalty — the village quickly drew a whole generation of artists in search of that same remarkable light over the Zeeland coast.

• Fellow painters: Ferdinand Hart Nibbrig (1866-1915), Marinus Zwart (1882-1970) and Piet Mondriaan (1872-1944) made up his close circle of friends; there was no shared style to speak of, but all of them sought inspiration in the dune landscape, the woods and the distinctive people of Zeeland.
• The Zeeland Light: the interplay of sun, seawater and salt crystals in the air creates a strikingly clear, ever-changing light above Domburg that drew artists like a magnet.
• Piet Mondriaan: he first visited Toorop in 1904 and returned to Domburg almost every year until 1916; his sketches of the sea, a windmill and a church tower later formed the basis for his first abstract work.
• Jacoba van Heemskerck: this artist from The Hague regularly stayed in Domburg from 1905 onwards and became close friends with both Toorop and Mondriaan.
• Marie Tak van Poortvliet: the wealthy art collector had a villa built in Domburg, financially supported the artists' colony and put artists in touch with buyers.

Toorop's Kotje

Toorop's Kotje was originally a small wooden pavilion in the dunes near Domburg, built on Toorop's own initiative to hold selling exhibitions for the town's visitors.

• Year built: the pavilion went up around 1911-1912 to Toorop's own design, right by the dunes of Domburg.
• A talked-about exhibition: fifteen painters together showed 82 paintings, watercolours and drawings there, including work by Toorop, Mondriaan and Jacoba van Heemskerck.
• Short-lived: the wooden Kotje didn't survive a full year before being destroyed by a storm, and a sturdier successor didn't last much longer either.
• Living on as a museum: inspired by the Kotje, architect Cees Stam later designed today's Marie Tak van Poortvliet Museum in the centre of Domburg.