I'm a huge fan of the American painter
Joan Mitchell, so last week I just had to visit her major retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton, the first time there has been a substantial exhibition of her work in Europe, and probably the only chance I'd get to see it all in one place. Plus it was nearly my birthday is my excuse...
The FLV is an impressive place set in parkland about 5 km from the centre of Paris, an appropriate venue since JM spend much of the latter part of her life living outside Paris.
The exhibition was billed as 'Monet-Mitchell' as it included some of Monet's larger works.
However, the bulk of the space was dedicated to Mitchell, with perhaps 60-80 of her paintings (as against a dozen or so of Monet's)
The exhibition included most of her best known works such as City Landscape (below), her 1955 painting that captured my interest in the first place. (Best look away now if you don't like abstract expressionism
)
As I queued for 30 mins on a midweek afternoon I was cursing the Monet link as I imagine that's who was bringing in the crowds (maybe I'm wrong about that). But afterwards I came to the conclusion that it was a clever ploy to get more exposure to JM's work: while many may well have turned up for the Monet, I think Mitchell's work would have left a far bigger impression. There is no question that the Monets looked really dull and washed out next to JM's exuberant and vibrant canvases (mostly diptychs/tryptychs).
Here's a few pics. Most of them are this size or larger:
I was familiar with many of the paintings after reading the excellent 2021 book by Sarah Roberts, but seeing them in the flesh was an amazing, highly emotional and unforgettable experience. The energy in the marks, esp. in the early works, is really apparent, and her control of colour was masterful.
Did anyone else manage to catch the exhibition?