Summer 1887

As the weather improves, Vincent sketches scenes of the Montmartre neighborhood, where he and Theo live, rendering the windmills at the top of the hill a number of times.

Using a “delicate, draftsman-like brushstroke,” he explores complementary color contrasts. Drawing first in charcoal, he fills in the outlines with diluted oil paint on inexpensive canvas using hatchings, dots, and short strokes of the brush. Rather than paint with small, systematically applied dots as the Neo-Impressionists do, he opts for a more graphic approach. Echoing his own drawing style, he combines dashes with longer strokes to arrive at a painting style that suits him.

– Alisia Robin Coon, Van Gogh Timeline, in Becoming van Gogh, Denver Art Museum, 2012, 256