Montmartre the Quarry and Windmills

Vincent van Gogh

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Keywords: MontmartreQuarryWindmills

Work Overview

Montmartre the Quarry and Windmills
Vincent van Gogh
Date: 1886; Paris, France *
Style: Post-Impressionism
Genre: cityscape
Media: oil, canvas
Location: Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands


The Montmartre paintings are a group of works that Vincent van Gogh made in 1886 and 1887 of the Paris district of Montmartre while living there with his brother Theo. The apartment where he lived with his brother bordered the countryside and overlooked the city of Paris. At the time the painting was made, the country landscape was beginning to disappear as a result of the city's expansion. Soon the fields, pastures and windmills would largely disappear from the Montmartre area. Van Gogh draws the audience in by use of the diagonal line of fences to the windmill just right of the center of the picture. This technique also established depth in the work.