land development

Le Moulin de la Galette

Paris, March 1887

Oil on Canvas 46x38cm

Pittsburg Museum of Art,

Carnegie Institute

This is Mountmartre in Vincent’s day it was a rather rural setting and was just beginning to be developed. The building of Sacre Coeur basilica on the top of the hill had just begun you can see some scaffolding behind the big windmill. This mill or Moulin in French is the site for the very famous Renoir of the dancers. The huge old mill made it a landmark, the tax-free status, wine making, the bakery made the mill a destination for Parisians that wanted a day in the country without really leaving town. It may have formed a sentimental attachment for people like Vincent who like a rural life. There is no doubt that windmills remind everyone of the Dutch and Vincent was no different. The distance and remote view of the hill speak again of the outsider’s view. Vincent lived close to the mill with his brother Theo, on Rue Lepic, on the urban developed side of the hill. Many artists lived on this highest spot in Paris. At the same time the van Goghs lived here, Degas, Lautrec, Pissaro, Renoir; lived as well. Mountmartre, means, the mount of the martyr.