Claude Monet- Joan Mitchell 05-Oct-2022 to 27-Feb-2023
Mitchell & Monet at The Fondation Louis Vuitton Paris is an ode to immersive painting.
Claude Monet vs. Joan Mitchell
the power of painting in expressing a variety of human experience
above: the exhibition is a dialogue between the two masters
above: the immersive experience of the above work of Monet is enhanced by the space between the two paintings, as the viewer’s imagination or visual memory connects the two
Housed in the architecturally impressive albeit peripheral Fondation Louis Vuitton, it is quite a feast for the senses. After arriving to the Parisian Bois de Boulogne , the woods are a lovely transition from the hustle and bustle of the town to the museum. Once arrived you can not but sigh in awe at the architectural wonder Frank Gehry has designed.
Visitors are subject to the airport-strict security that once through, are rewarded with various levels of painting… oh so sensual. The majority are large canvases full of colour to appease the most hungry of souls yearning for an immersive experience. The majority of Joan Mitchell’s work lives on separate floors to that of Jean Monet, though on some occasions the two are displayed in intentional proximity.
The two greats share a lot, though in my opinion what they share most them is their attention to and depiction of dappled light, its flickering in reflections on water or in a tree.
Extremely prolific, both artists lived in the French country side of Vertheuil.
Joan Mitchell, Cypress 1980
Claude Monet, Reflections of a Willow Tree 1916-1919
“Painting is the opposite of death, it permits one to survive, and it sometimes permits one to live.”
Joan Mitchell in her studio
notice how the frame highlights the difference in canvases’ size it houses; it changes how the entire work is perceived.
Above, Mitchell’s work in dialogue with Monet’s just opposite. At times the curation was so skillful that visitors could hardly identify whose work is whose, before reading the wall texts that is.
Joan Mitchell, Row Row 1982
above: Nympheas by Claude Monet 1916-1919; the similarity between the two artists’ work is clear in the subjet matter of nature, in the strokes’ rhythm, the mark making gestures and traces of hand movement, and of course the treatment of light.
Joan Mitchell, Untitled 1970
Poetry played a large role in Mitchell’s life, that of Jacques Dupin inspired the above work.
overview of one room dedicated to Joan Mitchell at The Fondation Louis Vuitton exhibition ‘Mitchell Monet’
the exterior of the Fondation Louis Vuitton displaying the architectural talents of Frank Gehry