Jean Theodoor Toorop was born on 20 December 1858 in Purworejo, Java, Dutch East Indies.
In 1872, he moved with his family to the Netherlands, where he studied in Delft and Amsterdam.
In 1880 he became a student at the Rijksakademie in Amsterdam.
A grant allowed him to study in Brussels, where he came into contact with the XX group
(Les Vingt),
and became a member in 1885.
He befriended Fernand Khnopff,
James Ensor
and Henry de Groux.
In 1886, he met James Whistler in London.
He discovered the Pre-Raphaelites
and William Morris' views on art and socialism.
In 1890 he developed his own version of Symbolism using elements of a Javanese aesthetics.
Met the French novelist and Martinist Joséphin Péladan in 1892.
In 1905 converted to Catholicism.
His themes thereafter became religious and even mystic.
His style simplified and he adopted a technique close to pointillism.
These fragmentary surfaces relate Jan Toorop to expressionism.