The Windmill, Claude Monet 1871 Postcard

The Windmill at Amsterdam depicts the old Zaandam mill that sat along the Onbekende Canal in Amsterdam. The mill was used for extracting yellow, red and blue dyes from coloured woods, with the development of chemical dyes the mill went bankrupt, and in 1876 it was torn down, Monet's vibrant use of colours in the work would seem to reference the dyes from the historic use of the building, the colours appearing to seep out into the canal. Monet's vivid use of clear colour and crystal sky later has a deep impact on Van Gogh, which painted his Le Moulin de Blute-Fin, the same scene the year that he arrived in Paris from Anterwerp.