Water mills continued to intrigue Vincent in 1884. In autumn he visited a fourth water mill in the vicinity of Nuenen. This time he has to walk quite a distance: the Genneper water mill is located south of Eindhoven, about 9 kilometers from his studio. He braves weather and wind.
These days, although it is freezing quite heavily here, I am still working outside on a rather large study (more than 1 meter) of an old watermill in Gennep, on the other side of Eindhoven. I want to finish it completely outside - but it will probably be the last thing I paint outside this year," he writes to Theo in mid-November.
He captures the structure several times. Working on the aforementioned large canvas of the mill in the landscape, he also makes a painted close up of the wheels and also a watercolor. During Vincent's stay in Nuenen, two wheels turn, with the small wheel serving for oil beating. The mill stands in a stream valley landscape; the Dommel and Tongelreep rivers meet here.
In the fall of 1884, Vincent met the tanner and amateur painter Anton Kerssemakers, with whom he painted the wooden mill in the hamlet of Gennep. In mid-November Vincent wrote to Theo that the painting of the Genneper watermill had brought him "a new acquaintance in Eindhoven who is anxious to learn how to paint and with whom I paid a visit and together we began at once. He gives this seven year older 'acquaintance' painting lessons and befriends him. They write to each other, take painting trips and visit museums in Amsterdam and Antwerp. Kerssemakers visited Vincent in his studio and vice versa and Vincent visited him in Eindhoven.
