Charley Toorop (1891-1955) is regarded as the most prominent female Dutch artist of the 20th century. She created an oeuvre that is strong-willed, self-aware and socially committed. Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen presented a large-scale retrospective of her work, displaying 120 paintings, among which 16 self-portraits. The exhibition was put together by Marja Bosma, who has also written a book about the life and work of Charley Toorop. Both the exhibition and the book made it easy to see how key works fit into the larger body of her work that is characterized by a confrontational realism. As daughter of the famous symbolist Jan Toorop, Charley grew up with a deep interest in culture. At first she concentrated on music, but eventually chose painting. [https://www.boijmans.nl/en/exhibitions/surtout-pas-des-principes-charley-toorop]