Art Institute of Chicago

Terrace and Observation Deck at the Moulin de Blute-Fin, Montmartre

Vincent van Gogh (Dutch, 1853–1890)

Date

Early 1887

Medium

Oil on canvas, mounted on pressboard

Culture

Paris

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Institution

Art Institute of Chicago

This painting dates from the winter of 1887, roughly a year after Vincent van Gogh arrived in Paris to join his brother, the art dealer Theo van Gogh. It is one of a group of landscapes featuring the Butte Montmartre, a short climb from the apartment on the rue Lepic where Vincent and Theo lived. Montmartre was dotted with reminders of its quickly receding rural past—abandoned quarries, kitchen gardens, and three surviving windmills, including the Moulin de Blute-Fin. The nonfunctional mill had become a tourist attraction, affording spectacular panoramic views over Paris from the observation tower erected beside it.

The authoritative record is held by Art Institute of Chicago. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.