GUILLAUMIN, Mill on the Creuse

Armand GUILLAUMIN (1841-1927), Mill on the Creuse, 1896, pastel on paper, 47.5 x 61 cm. © MuMa Le Havre / Florian Kleinefenn
Armand GUILLAUMIN (1841-1927)
Mill on the Creuse
1896
pastel on paper
47.5 x 61 cm
© MuMa Le Havre / Florian Kleinefenn
HD image
In 1892, at the age of 51, Guillaumin discovered the little village of Crozant and was immediately captivated. Like a return to his roots, the painter chose as his adopted homeland a region neighbouring that of his childhood spent in Moulins, a town in the Allier. From then on, Guillaumin shared his time between winters on the Riviera, springtime in Paris and increasingly frequent stays in the Creuse. At the edge of the last foothills of the Massif Central, the village of Crozant is encircled by granite plateaus punctuated by the deep valleys of the River Creuse and its tributary, the Sédelle.

The artist found an immediate passion for tackling the wild landscapes. Day after day, for 30 years, he painted the site of the Crozant feudal castle, the diverse rock formations surrounding it, the mills that dotted the banks of the Sédelle and the plant cover presented in multiple variations of colour with each new season. The pastel in the Senn collection portrays one of the many mills around the village of Crozant. A small house can be seen on the edge of the escarpment to the right, its roof a faint outline, as well as a barn and, along the river, the mill. There are six mills around Crozant and Guillaumin painted them all.

Like his Impressionist friends and particularly Monet who stayed in the region in 1889, Guillaumin was fascinated by the play of light on water. The site afforded the artist ample light, as well as space structured by the different rocky foothills bordering the river. He could thus give free expression to his love of colour and make use of vivid contrasts: the swathes of dark blue on the hill in the background stand out against the clear purity of the sky mirrored by the limpid waters of the river. His use of pure tones applied in solids in his pastels and many of his paintings, as well as his desire to play with where the paper is left showing through, illustrate the explorations that brought the artist to the threshold of Fauvism.

Artworks in context : Graphic arts (18)

Pablo PICASSO (1881-1973), The Beggar, 1904, watercolour on paper, 36 x 26 cm. © MuMa Le Havre / Charles Maslard — © Succession Picasso, 2013
Edgar DEGAS (1834-1917), Drapery Study. Study for Semiramis Building Babylon, ca. 1860-1862, graphite, Pierre Noire pencil and white gouache, on blue-grey laid paper, 32.8 x 31.3 cm. © MuMa Le Havre / Florian Kleinefenn
Charles DE LA FOSSE (1636-1716), Study for Saint John the Evangelist, red chalk reinforced with Pierre Noire pencil, traces of white chalk, 41.7 x 23 cm. © MuMa Le Havre / Florian Kleinefenn
Henri Edmond CROSS (1856-1910), Woman and Dog Among the Umbrella Pines, charcoal on laid watermarked paper bearing the Auguste Lepage stamp, 24.3 x 31 cm. © MuMa Le Havre / David Fogel
Albert MARQUET (1875-1947), Woman, Child and Man from Behind, ca. 1904, black ink on wove paper, 19.5 x 27.6 cm. © MuMa Le Havre / Charles Maslard
Armand GUILLAUMIN (1841-1927), The Banks of the Orge at Breuillet, 1895, pastel on paper, 60 x 47 cm. © MuMa Le Havre / Charles Maslard
Henri Edmond CROSS (1856-1910), Sunset, watercolour on vellum paper. © MuMa Le Havre
Henri Edmond CROSS (1856-1910), Le Mourillon, 1906, watercolour and black pencil on thick vellum paper, 16.9 x 24.7 cm. Senn-Foulds collection. © MuMa Le Havre / Florian Kleinefenn
Edgar DEGAS (1834-1917), Saddle Horse, ca. 1862, graphite on tracing paper, 17.8 x 28.1 cm. © MuMa Le Havre / Florian Kleinefenn
Edgar DEGAS (1834-1917), Marguerite Degas, ca. 1859-1860, graphite on wove paper, 30.1 x 23.2 cm. © MuMa Le Havre / Florian Kleinefenn
Eugène DELACROIX (1798-1863), Six Studies of Cats, brown ink on vellum papier, 18.8 x 18 cm. © MuMa Le Havre / Charles Maslard
Armand GUILLAUMIN (1841-1927), Fog at Sunrise, 1919, , 47 x 62 cm. . © MuMa Le Havre / Florian Kleinefenn
Armand GUILLAUMIN (1841-1927), Maritime Pines, Creek in Le Brusc, ca. 1911, pastel on paper, 48 x 62 cm. © MuMa Le Havre / Charles Maslard
Armand GUILLAUMIN (1841-1927), Bridge Over the Sédelle, Crozant, 1896, pastel on paper, 47 x 60 cm. © MuMa Le Havre / Florian Kleinefenn
Armand GUILLAUMIN (1841-1927), Woman's Head in Profile, 1878, pastel on paper, 47 x 32 cm . © MuMa Le Havre / Florian Kleinefenn
Albert MARQUET (1875-1947), Sinuous Woman (front), ca. 1904, Indian ink on wove paper, 28.5 x 18.8 cm. © MuMa Le Havre / Charles Maslard
Odilon REDON (1840-1916), Profile of a Man with a Bouquet of Flowers, ca. 1880-1885, charcoal with black pencil, smudging, marks of erasing on vellum paper, 48.1 x 36.2 cm. Senn-Foulds collection. © MuMa Le Havre / Florian Kleinefenn
Armand GUILLAUMIN (1841-1927), Mill on the Creuse, 1896, pastel on paper, 47.5 x 61 cm. © MuMa Le Havre / Florian Kleinefenn