Dame in het wit

Jan Toorop's 1886 painting of a woman in white (Dame in het wit) reflects his Impressionist period, when he was working closely with the observation of figures in light. The white-dressed figure was a favorite Impressionist subject — white clothing offering the greatest challenge and the greatest reward for the painter of light, every nuance of reflected color visible in its surfaces. Toorop brings to this subject both the Impressionist's analytical attention and his own cosmopolitan sophistication. The Kröller-Müller Museum holds this as an important example of his figure painting before his later Symbolist transformation.

The white dress is rendered with careful observation of the various reflected colors — shadows carry blues and purples, highlights range from cream to pure white. Toorop's brushwork is varied and observational, tracking the form beneath the dress through the fall of light. The surrounding space is handled more loosely, directing attention to the figure.