View of Paris from Montmartre

Catalogue numbers: F 262, JH 1102.

Van Gogh adopted the Impressionist and pointillist techniques from 1886 to 1888 in Paris. His views of the city, of walkers in the park, the Seine, or avenues were among the best that Impressionism produced - even if an undisciplined brushwork or a confrontational approach to objects and forms could sometimes mar the effect.

The panorama cityscape of the French capital is unusual not only in van Gogh's oeuvre but in the paintings from that period as well. The characteristic motifs of Paris, together with its parks and boulevards as scenes of the urban life, often appear in the background of Impressionist pictures, but the city of vast expansion was rarely depicted.