In the period from 1885 to 1889, on the treshold of symbolism, Toorop painted a remarkable group of pointillist works in which he finds his own way of combining the airiness of Seurat's invention of pointillism with the more sombre message of the social involvement he expressed in several of his works during the 1880's. This combination results in paintings that first strike you with their beauty and friendliness and only after longer inspection show their strong and emotional social involvement. It was not in Toorop's character to paint a fierce and aggressive work but he did not have the intention to avoid the subjects that emotionally where close to him. Especially in the 1888-1889 paintings he created a very stimulating tension between beauty and tragedy, a tension that can be found both in subject and image, where in (Alcoholism) the brilliant light of the sunshine coming through the window falls upon the sad scene of the withering man and his helpless wife. His choise to show this message in a painting that also is a very aesthetic work gives an impressive insight into the humanity of an artist whose love for beauty equalled his genuine concern for people.