Having tired of Nuenen, especially after the death of his father and a troublesome love affair, Vincent moved to Amsterdam for two months in 1885 before joining his brother Theo in Paris in 1886. His arrival in Paris came as a surprise to the unsuspecting Theo, an art-gallery manager living and working in Montmartre, who nonetheless welcomed him into his small apartment on the Rue Lepic.

At the time Montmartre was a mere suburb of Paris, but sixty years of urbanization and growth completely transformed the area almost beyond recognition by the time Pollack arrived. The quaint farms and windmills of the late nineteenth century were replaced with apartment buildings and paved streets. The noted Moulin de la Galette withstood the test of time, still standing near where Theo and Vincent once shared an apartment.

During his two years in Paris, Van Gogh brushed shoulders with the social circle of the Impressionists and other noted artists like Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. They had a tremendous impact on his style. Van Gogh started to experiment with a lighter palette and more vivid color combinations that make his subsequent work so memorable.

1. Peter Pollack. View of Rue Lepic on the Butte of Montmartre. Photograph. 1949.
2. Meyer Schapiro. Vincent Van Gogh. New York: H.N. Abrams, 1950.
3. "Van Gogh à Paris: Musée d'Orsay, 2 février-15 mai 1988." Card. Paris: Editions de la Réunion des Musées Nationaux, 1988.
4. Vincent Van Gogh. Complete Letters: with Reproductions of all the Drawings in the Correspondence, vol. 2. Greenwich, Conn.: New York Graphic Society, 1958.
5. Peter Pollack. Moulin de la Galette. Photograph. 1949.