Charley Toorop’s work has an originality and power all its own. However, there is one artist who she believed stood at the cradle of her artistic practice and whom she subsequently respected throughout her life: Vincent van Gogh. For her, his work was ‘the breakthrough to a new world’.In four essays her fascination is outlined. Among the topics discussed are her travels to the Borinage and southern France, where she sees the landscape and people through Van Gogh’s eyes and her respect for Van Gogh’s ‘deep harsh love of reality’.