Jo Koster | Gouda Museum

The fruit trees are laden with blossoms, the flower fields are endless, and the Mediterranean towns are sultry... In the paintings of Jo Koster (1868-1944), summer bursts from the canvas!

: Headstrong Talented, determined, and headstrong: Jo Koster is all of these things. She follows her own path at a time when this is not a given. She does not marry, earns her own money, and has a house built for herself. She is one of the first women to dare to make a living from her art.

Travel
A life as a successful portrait painter? Not dynamic enough for Jo Koster. She chooses her freedom, gets in her car, and travels all over Europe. Fresh flower fields, stately snow-capped mountain peaks, rugged capes, sleepy village scenes, and striking people: Jo Koster immortalizes it all.

Mentor and network
Jo Koster is ambitious and wants to continuously improve herself artistically. The well-known art teacher and painter H.P. Bremmer becomes her mentor. He gives Koster important advice and introduces her to many other artists. Inspiration flows freely back and forth. What is special about Jo Koster is that she does not stick to one painting style. She simply chooses what best suits her subject. This results in a Staphorst interior painted in a divisionist stippling technique and threatening purple skies above cornfields reminiscent of Vincent van Gogh.

This exhibition is made possible in part by the Mondriaan Fund, Fonds 21, and the Cultuurfonds.

TICKETS