Renoir conceived his project of painting the dancing at "Le Moulin de la Galette" in May 1876 and its execution is described in full by his civil servant friend Georges Rivière in his memoir "Renoir et ses amis". In the first place, Renoir needed to set up a studio near the mill. A suitable studio was found at an abandoned cottage in the rue Cortot with a garden described by Rivière as a "beautiful abandoned park". Several of Renoir's major works were painted in this garden at this time, including "La balançoire (The Swing)". The gardens and its buildings have been preserved as the Musée de Montmartre.