Montmartre [key] [Fr.,=hill of the martyrs], hill in Paris, on the right bank of the Seine River. The highest point of Paris, it is topped by the Church of Sacré-Cœur. Parts of the ancient quarter on its slopes were long a favorite residence of the bohemian world. The town of Montmartre was annexed to Paris in 1860, but until the 20th cent. Montmartre retained a rural look and provided material for Van Gogh, Pissarro, Utrillo, and other artists. During the first decade of the 20th cent. the district was home to such innovators of modern art as Picasso, Matisse, Braque, Derain, Modigliani, and Brancusi and the writer Gertrude Stein. Montmartre is also famed for its nightlife; among its many nightclubs is the Moulin Rouge. The cemetery of Montmartre contains the tombs of Stendhal, Renan, Heine, Berlioz, and Alfred de Vigny. The hill, a natural fortress, played a military role during the Paris Commune (1871) and other periods.
See S. Roe, In Montmartre: Picasso, Matisse and Modernism in Paris 1900–1910 (2015).
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