The 'Laakmolen' near The Hague is a watercolor painting by Vincent van Gogh, executed in the summer of 1882. It depicts the Laakmolen, a polder windmill located on the Trekvliet canal in what is now the Laakkwartier district of The Hague, Netherlands.
Background
The work was formerly thought to date from van Gogh's Etten period in 1881. Following identification of the mill depicted, art historians (notably Martha Op de Coul in 1990) re-dated it to the summer of 1882, after van Gogh had moved to The Hague. The mill is the Laakmolen (coordinates 52°4′4.16″N 4°19′56.98″E), a well-known mill on the road to Rijswijk, at that time a village near The Hague.
Description
The watercolor is executed in gouache, watercolor, charcoal, and pen and ink on paper, mounted on board. Its dimensions are 37.7 cm × 56 cm (14.8 in × 22 in). It is catalogued as F884 / JH59 in the standard catalogues of van Gogh's work by De La Faille and Hulsker.
Personal significance
The location held special emotional significance for van Gogh. In the summer of 1872, approximately ten years before the watercolor was made, van Gogh and his brother Theo had walked together to a mill at Rijswijk (presumed to be the Laakmolen, one of only two mills there) and drank milk together. Van Gogh later referred to this walk several times in his letters to Theo. Biographers have suggested that during this walk the brothers made a pact to pursue careers in art.
Provenance
The watercolor sold for £2,322,500 at Christie's, London, on 23 June 2015. Its authenticity has been confirmed by the Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam.
The mill
The Laakmolen itself is a polder mill dating from 1699, built on the foundations of an earlier mill by order of the Hoogheemraadschap Delfland (the regional water authority). It is located in the Laakkwartier area of The Hague, along the Haagse Trekvliet canal.
