Constables iconic Hay Wain in 10 minutes or less, National Gallery

What made John Constables The Hay Wain so radical for its time Vivmar Curatorial Fellow Emily Burns explains Constables groundbreaking use of colour and skilled composition, and how he set about painting this masterpiece in only 5 months. The view in the painting is of the millpond at Flatford on the River Stour. Flatford Mill was a watermill for grinding corn, operated by the Constable family for nearly a hundred years. It still survives and is about a mile from Constables birthplace at East Bergholt, Suffolk. The house on the left also survives; in Constables time it was occupied by tenant farmer Willy Lott.