Oostzijdse Mill in Moonlight

The Gemeentemuseum in The Hague, Netherlands own this landscape painting from circa 1907. It is one of a number of Mondrian paintings within their collection.

By the year of 1907, the artist had spent several years working on landscape paintings of local Dutch sights. He produced a good number of windmill depictions, including several of the same windmills. He also liked to work along the many rivers found within the Netherlands. The flat nature of his environment still offered much charm and he also appreciated the traditional methods still being used in and around where he was living at the time, particularly in terms of farming. Mondrian appreciated the work of Vincent van Gogh, who himself produced a number of landscape paintings with carefully selected lighting, be it early morning of late afternoon. See examples such as Starry Night over the Rhone, Landscape with a Carriage and a Train and Le Moulin de Blute-Fin.

We find here a few hay bales laying close to the windmill which dominates this relatively large painting. It stretches out vertically and horizontally, whilst the right hand side of the painting is dominated by the setting sun. It is small and bright, though allowing darker light from elsewhere to also be still dominant. The nearest foreground is draped in darkness and hard to pull out any great detail. Perhaps those who view the artwork in person will be able to spot individual brushstrokes and see more as a result. There is also a river at the back which just sits at across the horizon and offers another opportunity for Mondrian to play with the effects of light on different materials. This piece serves as an another fine example of this artist's love for Dutch windmills. See also Stammer Mill with Streaked Sky and Broekzijder Mill in the Evening.