Rather than capture urban settings in Paris, Van Gogh preferred pastoral scenes, such as Montmartre and Asnières in the northwest suburbs.

By the spring of 1887, Van Gogh embraced use of color and light and created his own brushstroke techniques based upon Impressionism and Pointillism.

[1] coming to Paris meant that he would also have the opportunity to be influenced by Impressionists, Symbolists, Pointillists, and Japanese art.

His circle of friends included Camille Pissarro, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Paul Gauguin and Émile Bernard.

It was also located on the edge of countryside that afforded Van Gogh the opportunity to work on paintings of rural settings while living in Paris.

[3] The Boulevard de Clichy (F292), a street in Montmartre, played an important role in Van Gogh's life in Paris.

The Café du Tambourin was located there,[4] a restaurant just around the corner from the apartment where he lived with his brother Theo.

[5] Located on the boulevard was the studio of Fernand Cormon, where Van Gogh received training, as well as the Moulin Rouge and the homes of several of his friends, whom he referred to as "Impressionistes du Petit Boulevard": John Russell, Georges-Pierre Seurat and Paul Signac.

In Van Gogh's first year in Paris he painted rural areas around Montmartre, such as the butte and its windmills.

At the time the work was painted, the country landscape was beginning to disappear as a result of the city's expansion.

Van Gogh draws the audience in by use of the diagonal line of fences to the windmill just right of the center of the picture.

Van Gogh was pleased with his work on this painting, commenting that it "breathed fresh air and joy".

He adapted the stippling technique, using tiny dots in areas where needed for detail and brush strokes for the background.