Jan Toorop (1858-1928)

In 1884 Jan Toorop met the young artist William Degouve de Nuncques, both situated in Brussels at the time. From 1890 until 1893 the artists exchanged circa 23 letters, of which the present letters are the only remaining ones from Toorop to Degouve de Nuncques. In the first letter from 1890 Jan Toorop expresses his opinion on the Triennal Salon in Brussels and includes a sketch and extensive commentary on one of his own pastels Vertrek van een bomschuit from 1890, now in the Kröller-Müller Museum in Otterlo. The second letter, dated January 1892, contains a sketch of La Nouvelle Génération (De Jonge Generatie), oil on canvas from 1892, now in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam.