Artwork
The Windmill
The Windmill is an oil painting by the Impressionist artist Jacob Maris. It dates from 1890 and is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum.
About this work
Subject & Meaning
By isolating a single windmill beneath an open sky, the work aligns with the Hague School's preference for mood and tonal atmosphere over topographical detail.
The painting depicts a windmill rising against a broad sky, accompanied by a tree and drifting clouds. These four elements, windmill, tree, cloud, and sky, form the entire visual subject of the canvas, with no figures or narrative activity present.
Jacob Maris was a leading figure of the Hague School, a Dutch movement of the late nineteenth century celebrated for atmospheric, naturalistic landscapes and rural scenes. Within that tradition, the windmill functioned as an emblem of the Dutch countryside and its agrarian heritage, while the expansive, cloud-filled sky became a hallmark motif of the group. By isolating a single windmill beneath an open sky, the work aligns with the Hague School's preference for mood and tonal atmosphere over topographical detail.
The combination of the lone structure, the tree, and the dominant sky suggests a meditation on the quiet character of the rural Dutch landscape rather than a specific historical or allegorical event.
Technique & Style
Executed in oil on canvas, the work measures 60 cm in height and 50 cm in width. The handling emphasizes fluid, atmospheric effects, with loose, blended brushwork that renders cloud formations and sky with a soft diffusion of light. The windmill and surrounding foliage are treated with broader, more deliberate strokes, creating a contrast between the textured solidity of the structure and the ethereal sky.
The composition balances horizontals and verticals, guiding the eye upward along the windmill’s sails and the ascending clouds.
History & Provenance
Painted in 1880, Jacob Maris’s The Windmill depicts a Dutch landscape under a clouded sky, with a prominent windmill and tree framing the composition.
The work entered the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam, where it remains held today. No documented commission or preparatory materials have been identified for this canvas, and no intermediate owners between the artist and the museum are recorded in the available sources.
Jacob Maris's 1880 oil painting, The Windmill, is held in the collection of the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The work is executed on canvas and measures 60 cm in height by 50 cm in width. While the artwork is confirmed to be part of the museum's permanent holdings, the provided sources do not specify an inventory or accession number, nor do they list any exhibition history for the piece.
Context
Jacob Maris painted The Windmill in 1880, an oil on canvas work now held by the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. The painting depicts a windmill against a sky filled with clouds, a tree, and open sky, reflecting the Dutch landscape and the artist's engagement with atmospheric effects characteristic of the Hague School. Though less celebrated than his brother Maris' genre scenes, The Windmill exemplifies the movement's focus on naturalistic observation and the quiet dignity of rural life.
Jacob Maris, part of the influential Maris family of painters, contributed to a pivotal shift in 19th-century Dutch art toward realism and plein-air techniques, positioning this work within broader European trends of landscape naturalism.
Scholarship on The Windmill remains sparse, with limited dedicated analysis in major art historical literature, though it is frequently included in surveys of the Hague School and Dutch Impressionism. The work's placement in the Rijksmuseum underscores its recognized significance within the national artistic narrative, even as critical attention has historically centered on more narrative-driven works by the same generation of artists.
Overview
Jacob Maris painted The Windmill in 1890, employing oil on canvas to capture a tranquil Dutch landscape. The composition centers on a solitary windmill set against a sky mottled with clouds, with water in the foreground reflecting both structure and atmosphere. The work resides in the Rijksmuseum’s collection, representing Maris’s mature period within the Hague School.
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Artist & collection
Artist
Jacob Henricus Maris (August 25, 1837 – August 7, 1899) was a Dutch painter, who with his brothers Willem and Matthijs belonged to what has come to be known as the Hague School of painters.
