The Mill

Georges Michel's The Mill, painted in the 1830s, continues his lifelong obsession with the windmills and dramatic skies of Montmartre and the Paris environs. By the 1830s, Michel was an elderly painter working in obscurity, but his vigorous, atmospheric landscapes anticipated the direction that French painting would take under the Barbizon school and later the Impressionists. His windmill subjects evoke the rural character of Montmartre before its transformation into an urban neighborhood.

Michel's oil-on-canvas technique features his characteristically bold, heavily worked brushstrokes that create a rough, expressive surface. The composition follows the Dutch landscape model with a dominant sky and low horizon, while the mill silhouette provides a strong focal point.