Each created during a key period of her storied career, the individual works chart the development of Joan Mitchell’s painting through the defining seasons of her life: from her early works as she forged her own path as a leading figure of the male-dominated New York School, to her colorful soaring canvases created in the lush French countryside late in her career.
Spanning nearly half a century of artistic production, together the conversation between these paintings offers a visual timeline of the radical transformations of her practice from circa 1955 through to 1989, testifying to her commitment to abstraction, the evolution of her mark-making, and continued affinity for the natural world. A touchstone across more than four decades of painting remains Mitchell’s steadfast fascination with “remembered landscapes,” and her powerful allusions to places as far as Manhattan to Vétheuil conjure resplendent visions of her beloved environs.
Throughout her life and work, Mitchell felt a kinship with the French Impressionists and European Post-Impressionists. By 1955, Mitchell began splitting time between Paris and New York, until 1967, when Mitchell inherited money after the passing of her mother, and was able to purchase La Tour, an estate in Vétheuil along the Seine. This move would mark a decisive turning point in her career: La Tour’s large space and high ceilings afforded Mitchell the ability to work on a larger scale, and, fully immersed in the natural world that she so loved, the stimulation of the French countryside proved immensely influential. Surrounded by Vétheuil’s beautiful landscape, Mitchell adopted what would become her signature aqueous palette of periwinkle and marigold, violet and ultramarine, and produced monumental works such as Noon and Ground.
These spectacular pieces will be part of Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction which will take place in New York on 13 May 2024.
