Windmill on the Cote de Picardie, near Versailles 1840

Camille Corot painted this oil on canvas of a windmill near Versailles, using the techniques that were traditional for his time. Corot laid down thin layers of paint that allow the white of the canvas to shine through, giving the scene a luminous quality. You can almost feel the breeze on the Picardie coast. Look closely, and you’ll see how Corot built up the image through numerous thin applications of paint. This wasn’t about bravura or immediate expression. It was about careful observation and rendering of the scene before him. Now, consider the windmill itself, a symbol of labor and industry, rendered here with a delicate touch. In Corot’s hands, even the most utilitarian structures become objects of beauty and contemplation, and the way he made this painting asks us to appreciate the world around us with fresh eyes. Ultimately, it is in this tension between the depiction of labor and the act of painting itself that much of this work’s meaning lies.