Le Blute-Fin Mill

Van Gogh's Le Blute-Fin Mill (1886) depicts one of the surviving windmills of Montmartre — the Moulin Blute-Fin on the Butte Montmartre, which had stood since the seventeenth century. By 1886, most of Montmartre's windmills had been demolished, but a few survivors gave the hilltop its characteristic silhouette. Van Gogh, living in Montmartre with Theo, was drawn to the windmills as both picturesque subjects and symbols connecting him to the Dutch landscape tradition — the Dutch windmill being perhaps the most iconic image of his homeland. His Paris period windmill paintings are transitional works, showing his palette brightening as Impressionist influence took hold.

The Blute-Fin mill is rendered with the brightening palette of Van Gogh's Paris period — no longer the dark earth tones of Nuenen, but not yet the saturated intensity of Arles. The windmill's sails and wooden structure provide geometric forms against the Paris sky. His brushwork is more varied than in Nuenen — shorter, more directional strokes that anticipate the Arles technique — though the overall handling is still more controlled than his later work. The specific urban-rural character of Montmartre is captured in the juxtaposition of the old mill with Parisian rooftops.