Utrillo's most important output took place during his so-called White Period (1910-1914).  The artist was preoccupied during these years trying to steer his art away from the shadow cast by the Impressionists.  Instead of focusing on the strong vibrant colors being employed by the Post-Impressionists and his other contemporaries, Utrillo instead embarked on a solitary campaign to render the buildings in Paris in different shades of white.  The painter's deft use of color and brushwork as well ﷺas his unique approach to conveying perspective at this time won Utrillo acclaim among his fellow artists.

Adolphe Tabarant described Utrillo as being, "obsessed with white- an incredible white!  Dissatisfied with the effects obtainable with zinc white (the only white he used), he tries combining it with plaster, in an effort to reproduce the whites of his beloved walls.  In a frenzy of realism, he would like to go as far as to put real moss on the old stones which he strives so hard to reproduce.  This is the beginning of that series of works known as the "White period."  At this time Utrillo uses a palette of many whites, but these never become chalky or dull.  He surrounds them with soft greys, delicate pinks, deep blues, or else contrasts them with sonorous browns and blacks.  It is during this perod that he achieves his most striking work.  With an entirely personal sense of color, he adds new beauty to naked, crumbling façades.  He expresses the calm rusticity of the rural scene with a primitive force, but with the accent of complete modernity.  With each new work he rises to further heights and, with the most delicate sensitivity, he clothes in splendor all that the casual eye of the passerby neglects" (Adolphe Tabarant, Utrillo, Paris, 1926).

Fig. 1  Maurice Utrillo, circa 1915.