Blick auf Paris aus Vincents Zimmer in der Rue Lepic

This is the view from Van Gogh's own window. In 1886 he moved to Paris to live with his brother Theo, an art dealer, in a fourth-floor apartment on the Rue Lepic in Montmartre, then still a scruffy hillside quarter of artists rather than the tourist landmark it became. Vincent had arrived from the Netherlands painting in dark earthy browns. Living among the Impressionists changed that within months. Look at how the rooftops here are built up in loose, bright touches of blue, green and pink, with small dabs of color borrowed from the Pointillists he was meeting. Beyond the near buildings the city opens out toward the towers of Notre-Dame. He painted this same outlook more than once, adjusting the framing until the tangle of roofs led the eye cleanly out to the skyline.