The exhibition Monet-Mitchell comprehend also the Joan Mitchell Retrospective, a composite journey between unique perceptions of the same landscape told by the engaging and intimate vision of the two artists. In Monet’s last period, the Water Lilies are at the center of every representation, motifs observed during his stay in Giverny; for Mitchell, on the other hand, the place of reference was Vétheuil, a residence in which he explored the transposition of feelings into art, through the memory that makes each perception alive beyond space and time.
For the occasion, Fondation Louis Vuitton is collaborating with the Marmottan Monet Museum, succeeding in dedicating the exhibition to the great poetic power of the two artists’ works. Monet’s arts, specifically the Water Lilies, became in the U.S. of the 1950s the precursor par excellence of detachment from the painters of the Abstract Expressionist current; Monet recognized the principle of his work in the lying essence of art, in its capacity for estrangement from the everyday life. The convergence of the two artists takes place precisely in Vétheuil, at the residence where Mitchell settles, not far from Monet’s property. The landscape that inspires the two is the same, although the pictorial approach results for one related to “sensations” and for the other to “feelings.” The surrounding nature influences their work from their careful sensitivity to light and color. If for Mitchell the juxtaposition of these two elements is always defined in a living memory, for Monet is a slow overtaking of color alone over figurative references from the first phase of his work. There are about sixty works in the exhibition that give an enchantingly sensitive and visually-thematically coherent journey.
Joan Mitchell Retrospective, on the other hand, is produced in collaboration with the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Baltimore Museum of Art and is the most important retrospective of the artist’s work in Europe for thirty years. The uniqueness of her painting is told, with an intense palette and an ongoing search for light and color through her intimate and personal relationship with landscape. Her life and work are the focus of the works, a painting that is abstract but also landscape, with vibrant energy.
The Monet-Mitchell exhibition is presented at Fondation Louis Vuitton from October 5th, 2022, to February 27th, 2023, in eight galleries, from the ground floor to all upper levels, in the echo of the Joan Mitchell Retrospective, which allows visitors to discover the artist’s work in the lower part of Frank Ghery’s building.
For more information fondationlouisvuitton.fr.
