Maurice Utrillo

Maurice Utrillo
Montmarte 1883 – Dax 1955
Attributed
The Mill
Oil on wood panel
25.5 x 35.5 cm, with frame 44.5 x 54 cm
titled “Le Moulin de Montmarte” (?) l.l.
Signed l.r.

Maurice Utrillo, one of the most important painters of the École de Paris, was particularly known for his views of Montmartre. As the son of the painter Suzanne Valadon, he grew up in this legendary Parisian artists’ quarter and made it the main subject of his work. His style combines Impressionist and Post-Impressionist elements with an often impasto painting technique that gives his pictures a special texture and depth.
The painting at hand shows one of his favorite scenes: Le Moulin de la Galette in Montmartre, one of the neighborhood’s landmarks, on the upper Rue Lepic in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. The mill rises monumentally behind a walkway, where figures are bustling about. The scene is lined with trees, whose foliage is rendered in loose, Impressionist strokes. The entire property, with its block-like architecture and the striking silhouette of the mill, is memorable and typical of Utrillo’s urban compositions.
His typical brushwork is particularly evident here: Utrillo paints with thick impasto, with a dense, textured application of paint that almost gives the painting a relief-like feel. The houses and the mill are laid out in clear, geometric forms, while the figures are only hinted at in rapid, impressionistic brushstrokes, making them seem to float in the scenery. The color palette ranges from warm, earthy tones for the architecture to cool blues and greens for the sky and foliage, creating a harmonious, slightly melancholy mood. The light reflections are skillfully captured in large areas by the typical white he used, mixed from plaster and cement.
With this work, Utrillo demonstrates his unmistakable signature: a poetic, almost contemplative depiction of Montmartre, which he immortalized with his works.