Who painted The Mill?

The Mill was painted by Paul Cezanne in 1890.

Where can I see The Mill?

The Mill is held by National Gallery of Art.

What movement is The Mill?

The Mill is associated with Impressionism.

Artwork

The Mill

Paul Cezanne , 1890

The Mill is a graphite drawing by the Impressionist artist Paul Cezanne. It dates from 1890 and is held in the collection of the National Gallery of Art.

About this work

Overview

Paul Cézanne’s drawing titled The Mill was executed in 1890. Rendered in graphite on wove paper, the work presents a compact study of an industrial structure, rendered with the artist’s characteristic attention to form and spatial arrangement. Though modest in scale, the piece reflects Cézanne’s ongoing exploration of landscape and architecture through drawing.

Technique & Style

The drawing employs graphite to delineate the mill’s mass and surrounding terrain, using varied line weight and shading to suggest volume and depth. Cézanne’s approach balances precise draftsmanship with a looser, gestural quality, illustrating his transition from strict academic drawing toward a more experimental handling of line and tone that would inform his later paintings.

Context

Created toward the end of the 1880s, The Mill belongs to a period when Cézanne was intensively studying the underlying geometry of natural and built forms. This work aligns with his broader investigations into how simple shapes combine to construct complex scenes, a preoccupation that would later influence the development of modernist abstraction.