The Forest Ranger’s Daughter counts among Tonitza’s most popular paintings. It was done sometime between 1924 and1926, a time when the artist was sympathetically exploring the universe of children, projecting onto them his own feelings. Like most of his portraits this one too seems intent on decoding the sitter’s gaze. Though turned toward the painter, the girl is deeply engrossed in a world of her own, as if looking into herself, in a contemplative, melancholic mood. Her inner world is hardly accessible to anyone but herself.
Far from any photographic rendition, the girl’s portrait plays the card of a stark contrast between the red dress and the green foliage surrounding her, the oak leaves interspersed here and there with touches of blue and orange. Two leaves descend on the collar of the dress and draw our attention to Tonitza’s masterly passage from the foreground to the background while breaking the decorative rhythm of the foliage.