Montmartre (Van Gogh series)
Encyclopedia
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
. Rather than capture urban settings in Paris, Van Gogh preferred pastoral scenes, such as Montmartre and Asnières
in the northwest suburbs. Of the two years in Paris, the work from 1886 often has the dark, somber tones of his early works from Holland
and Brussels
. By the spring of 1887 Van Gogh embraced use of color and light and created his own brushstroke techniques based upon Impressionism
and Pointillism
. The works in the series provide examples of his work during that period of time and the progression he made as an artist.
who was an art dealer. While he had been influenced not only by the great Dutch masters but also to a considerable extent by his cousin-in-law Anton Mauve
a Dutch realist painter and a leading member of the Hague School
. coming to Paris meant that he would also have the opportunity to be influenced by Impressionists
, Symbolists
, Pointillists
, and Japanese art. His circle of friends included Camille Pissarro
, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
, Paul Gauguin
and Émile Bernard
.
, sitting on a butte
overlooking Paris, was known for its bars, cafes, and dance-hall. It was also located on the edge of countryside that afforded Van Gogh the opportunity to work on paintings of rural settings while living in Paris.
. There Van Gogh met with other artists and displayed some of his works. He had a relationship with the owner of the establishment, who was also the subject in one of his paintings Agostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin
. Located on the boulevard was the studio of Fernand Cormon
, where Van Gogh received training, as well as the Moulin Rouge
and the homes of several of his friends, who he referred to as "Impressionistes du Petit Boulevard": John Peter Russell
, Georges-Pierre Seurat
and Paul Signac
. The painting of the Boulevard is Impressionistic in terms of subject and technique. Van Gogh used short brush strokes to depict the figures of the people and the buildings. Light is reflected off the road. Capturing a moment in a street scene was a common theme for Impressionists. The vantage point for the painting was looking northwest from Place Blanche. Rue Lepic's entrance is on the right side of the painting. Van Gogh also made a drawing of this site from a greater distance.
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.
Windmills also featured in some of Van Gogh's landscape paintings of Montmartre.
Vegetable Gardens in Montmartre: La Butte Montmartre (F346) depicts the changing landscape of the Montmartre landscape. In the foreground are allotted vegetable gardens with people working in their allotments. Although still somewhat rural, a large apartment building is constructed in the fields. The three remaining windmills in the area had now become a source of entertainment and respite from working in the city. Le Blute-Fin, also called Le Moulin de la Galette
was the largest standing mill offering a café and a terraced viewing platform for looking over Paris from behind the mill. Between the mills are dining establishments and dance halls. He used techniques he picked up from the Impressionists
and Pointillists
, such as use of short brush strokes or dots of color. The colors are much brighter than the somber colors he used in Holland
.
Vegetable Gardens in Montmartre: La Butte Montmartre (F316), the same name as painting F346, was selected by Van Gogh for his first exhibition in 1888 in Paris. Both paintings reflect how much he had learned since he came to Paris and were made on the same hill. The summery landscape depicts the vegetable gardens with the city skyline in the distance. Van Gogh was pleased with his work on this painting, commenting that it "breathed fresh air and joy".
In View of Paris (F341) Van Gogh demonstrates several Neo-impressionist techniques. To bring an intensity to his work, he uses complementary colors of red and green. He adapted the stippling technique, using tiny dots in areas where needed for detail and brush strokes for the background.
, he had not yet begun to integrate color and light into his work. This painting consists of dull brown and gray. Here Van Gogh seemed most interested in the variations of colors found in the many houses within his view.
Vincent van Gogh
Vincent Willem van Gogh , and used Brabant dialect in his writing; it is therefore likely that he himself pronounced his name with a Brabant accent: , with a voiced V and palatalized G and gh. In France, where much of his work was produced, it is...
made in 1886 and 1887 of the Paris district of Montmartre
Montmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...
while living there with his brother Theo
Theo van Gogh (art dealer)
Theodorus "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch art dealer. He was the younger brother of Vincent van Gogh, and Theo's unfailing financial and emotional support allowed his brother to devote himself entirely to painting...
. Rather than capture urban settings in Paris, Van Gogh preferred pastoral scenes, such as Montmartre and Asnières
Asnières (Van Gogh series)
Asnières , now named Asnières-sur-Seine, is the subject and location of paintings that Vincent van Gogh made in 1887. The works, which include parks, restaurants, riverside settings and factories, mark a break-through in Van Gogh's artistic development...
in the northwest suburbs. Of the two years in Paris, the work from 1886 often has the dark, somber tones of his early works from Holland
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
and Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
. By the spring of 1887 Van Gogh embraced use of color and light and created his own brushstroke techniques based upon Impressionism
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
and Pointillism
Pointillism
Pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term Pointillism was first coined by art critics in the late 1880s to ridicule the works...
. The works in the series provide examples of his work during that period of time and the progression he made as an artist.
Paris
In 1886, Van Gogh left Holland for Paris and the guidance of his brother Theo van GoghTheo van Gogh (art dealer)
Theodorus "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch art dealer. He was the younger brother of Vincent van Gogh, and Theo's unfailing financial and emotional support allowed his brother to devote himself entirely to painting...
who was an art dealer. While he had been influenced not only by the great Dutch masters but also to a considerable extent by his cousin-in-law Anton Mauve
Anton Mauve
Anthonij Rudolf Mauve was a Dutch realist painter who was a leading member of the Hague School. He signed his paintings 'A. Mauve' or with a monogrammed 'A.M.'. He was a very significant early influence on his cousin-in-law Vincent van Gogh.Most of Mauve's work depicts people and animals in...
a Dutch realist painter and a leading member of the Hague School
Hague School
The Hague School is the name given to a group of artists who lived and worked in The Hague between 1860 and 1890. Their work was heavily influenced by the realist painters of the French Barbizon school. The painters of the Hague school generally made use of relatively sombre colours, which is why...
. coming to Paris meant that he would also have the opportunity to be influenced by Impressionists
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
, Symbolists
Symbolism (arts)
Symbolism was a late nineteenth-century art movement of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. In literature, the style had its beginnings with the publication Les Fleurs du mal by Charles Baudelaire...
, Pointillists
Pointillism
Pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term Pointillism was first coined by art critics in the late 1880s to ridicule the works...
, and Japanese art. His circle of friends included Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro
Camille Pissarro was a French Impressionist and Neo-Impressionist painter born on the island of St Thomas . His importance resides in his contributions to both Impressionism and Post-Impressionism, as he was the only artist to exhibit in both forms...
, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa or simply Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, and illustrator, whose immersion in the colourful and theatrical life of fin de siècle Paris yielded an œuvre of exciting, elegant and provocative images of the modern...
, Paul Gauguin
Paul Gauguin
Eugène Henri Paul Gauguin was a leading French Post-Impressionist artist. He was an important figure in the Symbolist movement as a painter, sculptor, print-maker, ceramist, and writer...
and Émile Bernard
Émile Bernard
Émile Henri Bernard is known as a Post-Impressionist painter who had artistic friendships with Van Gogh, Gauguin and Eugene Boch, and at a later time, Cézanne. Most of his notable work was accomplished at a young age, in the years 1886 through 1897. He is also associated with Cloisonnism and...
.
Montmartre
MontmartreMontmartre
Montmartre is a hill which is 130 metres high, giving its name to the surrounding district, in the north of Paris in the 18th arrondissement, a part of the Right Bank. Montmartre is primarily known for the white-domed Basilica of the Sacré Cœur on its summit and as a nightclub district...
, sitting on a butte
Butte
A butte is a conspicuous isolated hill with steep, often vertical sides and a small, relatively flat top; it is smaller than mesas, plateaus, and table landform tables. In some regions, such as the north central and northwestern United States, the word is used for any hill...
overlooking Paris, was known for its bars, cafes, and dance-hall. It was also located on the edge of countryside that afforded Van Gogh the opportunity to work on paintings of rural settings while living in Paris.
Artistic style
When Van Gogh painted he intended not just to capture the subject, but to express a message or meaning. It was through his paintings of nature that he was most successful at accomplishing his goal. It also created a great challenge: how to portray the subject and create a work that would resonate with the audience.Montmartre scenes
The Boulevard de Clichy (F292), a street in Montmartre, played an important role in Van Gogh's life in Paris. The Café du Tambourin was located there, a restaurant just around the corner from the apartment where he lived with his brother TheoTheo van Gogh (art dealer)
Theodorus "Theo" van Gogh was a Dutch art dealer. He was the younger brother of Vincent van Gogh, and Theo's unfailing financial and emotional support allowed his brother to devote himself entirely to painting...
. There Van Gogh met with other artists and displayed some of his works. He had a relationship with the owner of the establishment, who was also the subject in one of his paintings Agostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin
Agostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin
Agostina Segatori Sitting in the Café du Tambourin was painted by Vincent van Gogh in 1887. Agostina owned the café that Van Gogh knew intimately. It was a gathering spot for Parisian artists, a place where their work was exhibited. Van Gogh, unable to pay in cash for his meals, exchanged...
. Located on the boulevard was the studio of Fernand Cormon
Fernand Cormon
Fernand Cormon was a French painter born in Paris. He became a pupil of Alexandre Cabanel, Eugène Fromentin, and Jean-François Portaels, and one of the leading historical painters of modern France....
, where Van Gogh received training, as well as the Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge
Moulin Rouge is a cabaret built in 1889 by Joseph Oller, who also owned the Paris Olympia. Close to Montmartre in the Paris district of Pigalle on Boulevard de Clichy in the 18th arrondissement, it is marked by the red windmill on its roof. The closest métro station is Blanche.The Moulin Rouge is...
and the homes of several of his friends, who he referred to as "Impressionistes du Petit Boulevard": John Peter Russell
John Peter Russell
John Peter Russell was an Australian impressionist painter.-Life and work:John Peter Russell was born at the Sydney suburb of Darlinghurst, the eldest of four children of John Russell, a Scottish engineer, his wife Charlotte Elizabeth, née Nicholl, from London. J. P. Russell was a nephew of Sir...
, Georges-Pierre Seurat
Georges-Pierre Seurat
Georges-Pierre Seurat was a French Post-Impressionist painter and draftsman. He is noted for his innovative use of drawing media and for devising a technique of painting known as pointillism...
and Paul Signac
Paul Signac
Paul Signac was a French neo-impressionist painter who, working with Georges Seurat, helped develop the pointillist style.-Biography:Paul Victor Jules Signac was born in Paris on 11 November 1863...
. The painting of the Boulevard is Impressionistic in terms of subject and technique. Van Gogh used short brush strokes to depict the figures of the people and the buildings. Light is reflected off the road. Capturing a moment in a street scene was a common theme for Impressionists. The vantage point for the painting was looking northwest from Place Blanche. Rue Lepic's entrance is on the right side of the painting. Van Gogh also made a drawing of this site from a greater distance.
Le Moulin de la Galette
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.The landscape and windmills around Montmartre were the source of inspiration for a number of Van Gogh's paintings. The Moulin de la Galette
Moulin de la Galette
The Moulin de la Galette is a windmill and associated businesses situated near the top of the district of Montmartre in Paris. Since the 17th century the windmill has been known for more than just its milling capabilities...
, 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.
Windmills also featured in some of Van Gogh's landscape paintings of Montmartre.
Other windmill paintings
The Hill of Montmartre with Stone Quarry(F229) was but one of Van Gogh's paintings of the Montmartre countryside. 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.Vegetable gardens in Montmartre
Montmatre's vegetable gardens, fenced in blocks for security and to clearly separate the allotted spaces, supplied the Paris markets with spinach, lettuce, cabbage and other vegetables.Vegetable Gardens in Montmartre: La Butte Montmartre (F346) depicts the changing landscape of the Montmartre landscape. In the foreground are allotted vegetable gardens with people working in their allotments. Although still somewhat rural, a large apartment building is constructed in the fields. The three remaining windmills in the area had now become a source of entertainment and respite from working in the city. Le Blute-Fin, also called Le Moulin de la Galette
Le Moulin de la Galette (Van Gogh series)
Le Moulin de la Galette is the subject and title of several paintings made by Vincent van Gogh in 1886 of a windmill. The Moulin de la Galette was near Van Gogh's apartment with his brother, Theo in Montmartre. The owners of the windmill maximized the view on a butte overlooking Paris, creating...
was the largest standing mill offering a café and a terraced viewing platform for looking over Paris from behind the mill. Between the mills are dining establishments and dance halls. He used techniques he picked up from the Impressionists
Impressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
and Pointillists
Pointillism
Pointillism is a technique of painting in which small, distinct dots of pure color are applied in patterns to form an image. Georges Seurat developed the technique in 1886, branching from Impressionism. The term Pointillism was first coined by art critics in the late 1880s to ridicule the works...
, such as use of short brush strokes or dots of color. The colors are much brighter than the somber colors he used in Holland
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
.
Vegetable Gardens in Montmartre: La Butte Montmartre (F316), the same name as painting F346, was selected by Van Gogh for his first exhibition in 1888 in Paris. Both paintings reflect how much he had learned since he came to Paris and were made on the same hill. The summery landscape depicts the vegetable gardens with the city skyline in the distance. Van Gogh was pleased with his work on this painting, commenting that it "breathed fresh air and joy".
View from Vincent's Room
Van Gogh lived with his brother in Montmartre. Located above the city of Paris, the apartment afforded him a beautiful view of the city skyline, which he painted several times. Two of the paintings were made in 1887. The second painting View from Vincent's window was made from a similar vantage point to the titled painting View of Paris from Vincent's Room in the Rue Lepic of this article.In View of Paris (F341) Van Gogh demonstrates several Neo-impressionist techniques. To bring an intensity to his work, he uses complementary colors of red and green. He adapted the stippling technique, using tiny dots in areas where needed for detail and brush strokes for the background.
View of Paris
Roofs in Paris (F231) was made by Van Gogh in 1886, his first year in Paris. Although acquainted with ImpressionismImpressionism
Impressionism was a 19th-century art movement that originated with a group of Paris-based artists whose independent exhibitions brought them to prominence during the 1870s and 1880s...
, he had not yet begun to integrate color and light into his work. This painting consists of dull brown and gray. Here Van Gogh seemed most interested in the variations of colors found in the many houses within his view.