The Allotments at Montmartre

Vincent van Gogh

Contemporary-Art.org
Keywords: AllotmentsMontmartre

Work Overview

Street Scene in Montmartre: Le Moulin à Poivre
Artist Vincent van Gogh
Year 1887
Medium Oil on canvas
Location Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam (F570)


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. 


Van Gogh created a number of paintings titled Le Moulin de la Galette, which was also called Moulin Bloute-Fin. In van Gogh’s first year in Paris he painted rural areas around Montmartre, such as the butte and its windmills. The colors are somber and evoke a sense of his anxiety and loneliness.[8]


The landscape and windmills around Montmartre were the source of inspiration for a number of van Gogh's paintings. The Moulin de la Galette, still standing, is located near the apartment he shared with his brother. Built in 1622, it was originally called Blute-Fin and belonged to the Debray family in the 19th century. Van Gogh met artists such as Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Signac and Paul Gauguin who inspired him to incorporate Impressionism into his artwork resulting in lighter, more colorful paintings.[9]


Windmills also featured in some of van Gogh's landscape paintings of Montmartre.