Winter

He was the son of the artist Annie Caroline Pontifex "Charley" Toorop and the philosopher Henk Fernhout. Like his mother and grandfather, Jan Toorop, he was mainly working as a painter. He married Rachel Louise Pellekaan, draftsman, but no children were born from this marriage. After divorce, in 1947 he married Nannette Salomonson, from this marriage one son was born.

The youth of Eddy Fernhout was far from harmonious. His parents had a bad marriage, and by constant financial problems, the family could not afford a permanent residence. Ironically, only after the marriage of his parents was finally stranded in 1917, there was some improvement for the family with three children. Edgar was dedicated to painting around this time, at the age of sixth, under his mother's guidance.

The grandfather, Jan Toorop took care of his granddaughter while supporting financially his daughter Charley Toorop and her two sons – Edgar and his one-year-younger brother John. For them, he built the studio house 'De Vlerken' in the North Holland town Bergen, where they could retire in 1922.

In 1937 the Hague Gallery Nieuwenhuizen Segaar organized a special exhibition about the three generations Toorop family. But his son, Rik Fernhout is also a painter, making the family painting-tradition flow for four generations. He taught alternative art education 'Ateliers' 63' in Haarlem, and among his students were Jan Dibbets, Wessel Couzijn, Carel Visser, Constant and Armando.