March 25–June 25, 2023
Entrance in Taylor Hall
Monet/Mitchell: Painting the French Landscape
I want to express what I feel.
-Claude Monet
I paint from remembered landscapes that I carry with me.
-Joan Mitchell, 1957
The French landscape, specifically that along the meandering Seine river northwest of Paris, provided inspiration for the French Impressionist painter Claude Monet, and several decades later, the American Abstract Expressionist painter Joan Mitchell. For the first time in the United States, this exhibition brings together paintings by these two artists. Monet’s late works were created at his home in Giverny and those of Mitchell in nearby Vétheuil, where she lived from 1968 until 1992. While from different generations-Mitchell was born in 1925, the year before Monet died-both artists engaged intensely with nature.
Monet and Mitchell addressed similar themes of trees, earth, water, and flowers, and each was drawn to capture, time and again, the gardens that they cultivated. ‘Both also used vibrant colors and gestural brushwork, and favored similar formats, often working on large-scale, multi-panel compositions. Critics frequently compared their paintings beginning in the late 1960s. Interestingly, Mitchell initially embraced this connection with Monet; however, she increasingly rejected it in later years.
Monet adopted a highly abstract approach in his late paintings that complicates the traditional idea of this artist as an outdoor painter who engaged closely with the natural world. The artist’s reliance on his memory in his late years creates parallels with Mitchell, who saw her paintings as abstracted memories of nature that she transformed within her imagination.
The paintings on view are grouped by themes and drawn principally from the collections of the Musée Marmottan Monet and the Fondation Louis Vuitton.
Monet/Mitchell: Painting the French Landscape is organized by the Saint Louis Art Museum in partnership with the Fondation Louis Vuitton and the Musée Marmottan Monet.
Generous support has been provided by presenting sponsors, LVMH / Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton and Bank of America.
Image blow-ups:
Jacques-Ernest Bulloz, French, 1858-1942; Claude Monet next to his water lily pond at Giverny, summer 1905; Reunion des Musees Nationaux (RMN—Grand Palais / Art Resource NY).
Edouard Boubat, French, 1923-1999; Joan Mitchell, 1984; Image courtesy of Joan Mitchell Foundation Archives; ©Edouard Boubat
Gardens and Trees
My garden is a slow work of art, a labor of love.
-Claude Monet, 1924
I give gratitude to trees because they exist.
-Joan Mitchell, 1976
Gardens bursting with plant life provided great inspiration for both Claude Monet and Joan Mitchell. Monet moved to Giverny in 1883, and initially cultivated a flower garden. Ten years later he diverted water from a branch of the nearby river Epte to create a pond for “the pleasure of the eye and also for motifs to paint.” Therefore, he expanded this pond, and planted a wide range of water lilies as well as trees and flowers around its edges.
The water lilies, and his weeping willow trees, became principal subjects of Monet’s late work. He represented the lilies and willows in many ways: by themselves; in relationship to the pond; and as reflections. Mitchell often visited Giverny, particularly in the 1970s, and described it as her “secret garden.”
In 1967, Mitchell purchased a two-acre property at Vétheuil and she moved there in 1968. Over the years, she cultivated a flower garden and separate vegetable garden. Her house had an impressive view looking down over the Seine river: her friend, the artist Ed Clark, described it as “goddamn beautiful.” This view, as well as the colors and shapes of the flowers and a linden tree, provided Mitchell endless creative material.
Claude Monet,
French, 1840–1926
Water Lilies, 1914–17
oil on canvas
These landscapes of water lilies and reflections have become an obsession.
—Claude Monet, 1908
Animating this canvas is a reflection of weeping willow branches vertically depicted in shades of dark green. The play of natural light across water lily blooms and pads captivated Monet, who probably painted the picture beside his Giverny pond. His common practice of working outdoors is evident in a photograph of him perched on a stool with an umbrella overhead (see image).
Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris 2023.96
Monet painting Water Lilies (Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon) by his water lily pond. Next to him, his daughter-in-law (and stepdaughter) Blanche Hoschedé-Monet and one of his step-granddaughters, Nitia-Dominique Salerou, 1915.
Claude Monet,
French, 1840–1926
Weeping Willow, 1922
oil on canvas
Monet’s rapid, calligraphic swirls of aquamarine, green, and violet indicate the branches of a weeping willow on the edge of his pond. Horizontal red-and-yellow lines at the tree’s base suggest the water’s surface. Monet had previously painted this weeping willow in a more naturalistic fashion, but here transformed it into a dynamic mass of marks. Such work highlights his gestural abstraction that was admired by Mitchell and the Abstract Expressionists of the 1950s.
Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris 2023.104
Joan Mitchell,
American (active France), 1925–1992
Red Tree, 1976
oil on canvas
The trunk of this deep red tree is animated by a whirling mass of pink, yellow, and blue brushstrokes. Branches rise and expand outward with powerful force. Informed by her Abstract Expressionist background, Mitchell rapidly applied pigment, resulting in drips and spatters. It is also worth noting, however, that she often said that she worked slowly, stepping back from the canvas before making marks. This example is one of a group of tree paintings produced by the artist in the mid-1970s.
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris 2023.105
Claude Monet,
French, 1840–1926
Water Lilies with Weeping Willow Branches, 1919
oil on canvas
The descending limbs of Monet’s weeping willow tree form a curtain of foliage over his water lily pond. Likely made outdoors, this example is considered a study for the larger multi-panel paintings produced in his Giverny studio, which the artist called his Grandes Décorations (Grand Decorations). Anticipating the growing abstraction of his late work, here Monet suggested a compositional play between the verticals of the branches and the oval shapes of the lily pads.
Paris, Lycée Claude Monet, gift of Michel Monet, loan from Museum of Impressionism Giverny, MDIG 2016.1.1 2023.93
Joan Mitchell,
American (active France), 1925–1992
Tilleul, 1978
oil on canvas
Forceful streaks of black paint ascend upward, materializing the branches of a tree. Among the limbs, hints of teal blue suggest the passage of light and sky. In the courtyard of Mitchell’s home at Vétheuil grew a massive linden tree, tilleul in French. An object of deep inspiration, it was repeatedly portrayed by the artist until the year of her death. This particular work is one of a suite of linden tree paintings, each with its own coloration.
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris 2023.106
The linden tree on Joan Mitchell’s Vétheuil property, 1983; photograph by Robert Freson; Joan Mitchell Foundation Archives, New York
Gardens and Flowers
I love water, but I also love flowers.
-Claude Monet, 1924
I like late Monet, but not early.
-Joan Mitchell, 1957
Monet employed six gardeners to look after his large Giverny garden, with one assigned to remove debris from the surface of his pond. He subscribed to several horticultural journals and befriended the well-known water lily grower, Joseph Bory Latour-Marliac, who created hybrid water lily blooms using species from Africa and Asia. Monet visited Latour-Marliac’s plant nursery in Bordeaux in 1904 and placed large orders for water specimens, including recently created colorful hybrid breeds. He planted the banks of his pond with a wide range of flowers including irises, rhododendrons, and agapanthus.
Mitchell had an extensive garden at Vétheuil and a resident gardener. She was particularly attracted to the sunflowers that she first began to grow there, with her partner, Canadian painter, Jean Paul Riopelle, in the late 1960s. These plants grew very tall—with Mitchell describing them as “like trees.” These sunflowers would be a recurrent element in Mitchell’s paintings from the late 1960s until her death. Over the years, she cultivated a variety of flowers—from tulips to coreopsis to asters—and their colors and shapes informed her work.
Mitchell probably say Monet’s painting at the Musée Marmottan Monet in 1971, including many of the works in this exhibition. One critic at that time noted that she “openly admits her adoration of Monet.”
Monet in his Giverny garden, c.1920
Joan Mitchell in her garden, 1992; Photo by David Turnley / Corbis / VCG via Getty Images
Claude Monet
French, 1840–1926
Water Lilies and Agapanthus, 1914–17
oil on canvas
Several agapanthus flowers were planted by Monet around the edges of his Giverny pond. Native to South Africa and also known as “African lily” or “Lily of the Nile,” this tall perennial consists of clusters of funnel-shaped lilac flowers on thin stems. Monet’s study of this flower informed his three-panel painting, Agapanthus; the central panel is on view in the next gallery. In the work here, he contrasted the violet of the agapanthus with the yellow of the water lily blooms.
Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris 2023.95
Claude Monet
French, 1840–1926
Water Lilies, 1914–17
oil on canvas
In this painting, Monet represented an island of water grass, the reflections of which are nearly impossible to differentiate from the plant itself. Elsewhere, he enlivened his composition with lily pads and blooms at top left and grass from the river bank at bottom left. The work is a subtle study in varying tones of mauve, yellow, and green. The canvas parallels Mitchell’s own use of these colors.
Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris 2023.97
Joan Mitchell,
American (active France), 1925–1992
Two Sunflowers, 1980
oil on canvas
Sunflowers are something I feel very intensely. They look so wonderful when young and they are so very moving when they are dying. I don’t like fields of sunflowers. I like them alone or, of course, painted by Van Gogh.
—Joan Mitchell, 1986
Mitchell was deeply attached to the sunflowers she had grown in her Vétheuil garden since the late 1960s. In this diptych, or two-panel work, dense areas of rich yellow and orange suggest those sunflowers in bloom, and perhaps also dying. Short, black strokes stand in for the earth; scribbles applied in lime green hint at grass, weeds, or the sunflowers’ leafy stems. To suggest the passage of light, Mitchell layered pale violet patches beneath the bolder hues.
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris 2023.108a,b
Joan Mitchell,
American (active France), 1925–1992
Cypress, 1980
oil on canvas
Mitchell’s 1980 visit to Provence in the Southern France prompted her to create this work soon afterward. Streaks of golden yellow evoke the region’s luminous sunlight, while contrasting black forms reference the cypress trees encountered by the artist on her trip. Mitchell first painted cypresses in the mid-1960s and returned to the subject periodically until the end of her career. This canvas may reflect her admiration for Dutch Post-Impressionist artist Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890), who also frequently depicted cypresses (see image).
Foundation Louis Vuitton, Paris 2023.109a,b
Vincent van Gogh, Dutch, 1853–1890; Wheat Field with Cypresses, 1889; oil on canvas; 28 7/8 x 36 3/4 inches; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Purchase, The Annenberg Foundation Gift, 1993
Joan Mitchell,
American (active France), 1925–1992
Another, 1980
oil on canvas
The vibrant colors of her garden seem to have heavily influenced Mitchell’s painting titled Another. Below an expanse of foliage-like green are suggested the yellows of coreopsis, the mauves of asters, and the blacks of tulips planted by her assistant, the French composer Gisèle Barreau (b. 1948). In 1979, the year before this work was completed, Barreau moved into Mitchell’s Vétheuil home. Her strong interest in horticulture encouraged Mitchell’s own gardening pursuits.
The Werner Family 2023.94
Fields, Water and Reflections
I have painted these water lilies a great deal, modifying my viewpoint each time… the essence of the motif is the mirror of water, whose appearance alters at every moment.
-Claude Monet, 1918
I am very influenced by what I see outside, the light, the fields… In all my paintings, there are trees, water, grass, flowers, sunflowers… but not directly… it’s rather the feeling that I have for things.
-Joan Mitchell, 1892
In his late paintings, Monet eliminated any reference to the river bank or horizon. Instead, he focused on the surface of his pond, creating a sense of flatness and abstraction in his canvases. In 1915, Monet constructed a new large-scale studio in his garden at Giverny. Here, he painted the large, multi-panel canvases of his pond, which he called his Grandes Décorations (Grand Decorations), and which he considered the culmination of his career. Among those was Water Lilies in this gallery.
Despite her attachment to Vétheuil, Mitchell’s paintings were never intended to be precise descriptions of place. Her images of water could reference her love of the Seine River as well as recollections of Lake Michigan, where she had grown up. Paintings of fields might allude not only to the expansive landscape around Vétheuil but also the cornfields of the American West.
Like Monet, Mitchell produced ambitious multi-panel canvases, working in the studio at the top of her property. She often worked at night, accompanied by music, ranging from Bach, Mozart, and Verdi to Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday.
Claude Monet
French, 1840–1926
Water Lilies, about 1915–26
oil on canvas
Varying shades of purple and blue span the top of this canvas, reflecting the sky above Monet’s Giverny pond. Below, the shallow water merges into a large swath of yellow-green, suggesting reflections of trees, or perhaps the presence of underwater grasses. Water lily blooms edged in red offer colorful accents across the surface.
This painting is the centerpiece of Monet’s Agapanthus triptych or three-panel work. In 1956, the triptych was exhibited in New York and played a significant role in the Monet revival of the 1950s, of which Mitchell was keenly aware.
Saint Louis Art Museum, The Steinberg Charitable Fund 134:1956
Claude Monet, French, 1840–1926; Water Lilies (Agapanthus), c.1915–26; oil on canvas; The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri (Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust) 57-26; Saint Louis Art Museum, The Steinberg Charitable Fund 134:1956; The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 1960.81
Joan Mitchell,
American (active France), 1925–1992
Minnesota, 1980
oil on canvas
Yellow comes from here [Vétheuil] . . . it is rapeseed, sunflowers . . . one sees a lot of yellow in the country.
—Joan Mitchell, 1982
In this luminous four-panel painting (quadriptych), Mitchell contrasts veils of pale lemon yellow in the center with thicker, and darker yellow marks in her end panels. A lavender wash permeates throughout, with black, burgundy, and blue brushwork confined to the outer edges.
The name of this painting honors a longtime friend of Mitchell’s who lived in Minneapolis. Yet the artist’s color choices derive from her rural French home. In this context, the title, Minnesota, should not be taken too literally.
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris 2023.113a-d
Claude Monet,
French, 1840–1926
Wisteria, 1919–20
oil on canvas
Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris 2023.99
Claude Monet,
French, 1840–1926
Wisteria, 1919–20
oil on canvas
Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris 2023.100
In this pair of panels, Monet concentrated on the flowering wisteria vines that hung from the trellis of his pond’s bridge. The Japanese-style walkway was built by the artist in 1895; its trellis was added a decade later. Here, Monet applied his paint rapidly, using quick, gestural brush marks and he allowed the primed white canvas to peek through. In doing so, he created an abstract effect.
As a visual complement to Monet’s own Grandes Décorations (Grand Decorations)—including the Water Lilies in this gallery—these canvases were meant to form part of a horizontal band or frieze that would have hung above them. His plan, however, was never realized and the panels remained in the artist’s studio at his death.
Joan Mitchell,
American (active France), 1925–1992
Plowed Field, 1971
oil on canvas
As if viewed from an aerial perspective, this expansive triptych, or three-panel work, possibly references the agricultural landscape around Vétheuil. Mitchell visually constructed her painting from blocks of color, using rich tones of pale and dark green, ruby red, burnished orange, and translucent pink. Drips and spatters of pigment fuse the patches together. The triptych is part of a suite of works representing what Mitchell called her “fields and territories.”
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris 2023.107a–c
The music in this gallery is:
The St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Music Director Stéphane Denève, performing Claude Debussy’s Nocturnes.
Recorded live at Powell Hall on April 30 and May 1, 2022.
Create Your Own Landscape
Artists Claude Monet and Joan Mitchell found endless inspiration outdoors. From ponds and rivers to trees and flowers, their landscape paintings were drawn from both direct observation and memory.
Write about or sketch your own landscape with the paper and colored pencils in this gallery.
If the window shades are open, look outdoors and find inspiration in the surroundings of Forest Park. If the shades are down, study the photographs on the wall or in the books on the benches. If you prefer, use your imagination.*
* To maintain light levels needed to protect and preserve works of art in adjacent galleries, the shades are on automated controls that raise and lower them according to current conditions.
Wall images courtesy of Forest Park Forever:
Left: Jerry Naunheim for Forest Park Forever
Right: Mena Darré for Forest Park Forever
Excerpts from “Ceux de chez nous,” 1915, filmed by Sacha Guitry
Excerpts from “Joan Mitchell in Vétheuil,” 1976; directed by Angeliki Haas
duration: 7 minutes, 42 seconds, looped
Color and Abstraction
Those who discuss my painting conclude that ‘I have arrived at the final degree of abstraction and imagination allied to the real.’
-Claude Monet, 1909
My painting is abstract but it’s also a landscape without being an illustration.
-Joan Mitchell, 1982
Inspired by nature, Monet and Mitchell each developed their own painterly style as an expression of their individuality. In his late work, Monet produced increasingly abstract paintings such as those in this gallery, that seem to affirm the power of the individual brushstroke, operating independently from nature. At this time often painting from memory, Monet used profoundly non-naturalistic color. It is possible that his late development resulted from the artist’s declining eyesight. His cataracts ensured that his view of the world was blurred and seen through a yellow veil. Even after surgery, he complained that he saw the world tinged with blue.
Mitchell, as part of the Abstract Expressionist movement, was deeply committed to the movement’s idea of the brush mark as an indication of personal subjectivity. At the same time, she was also unusual among her peers in retaining an intense attachment to nature. The paintings in this gallery highlight her vibrant color and range of gestural brushstrokes, sometimes swirling, sometimes more diagonal and repetitive. Her use of drips and paint spatter, inherited from Abstract Expressionism, sets her approach apart from that of Monet.
Joan Mitchell,
American (active France), 1925–1992
Row Row, 1982
oil on canvas
Two canvases covered with ultramarine blue are animated by thickly applied marks of yellow and orange on the left, and violet and deep purple on the right. This diptych may reference Mitchell’s love for the Seine River and its changing patterns of light. It is one of a group of paintings, including Down the Stream and But a Dream, in which Mitchell ironically referenced words from a well-known children’s rhyme, celebrating the happiness of life. This was a time of personal hardship for the artist, with the illness and death of her sister, Sally Perry, in 1982.
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris 2023.110a,b
Claude Monet,
French, 1840–1926
The Japanese Bridge, 1918–24
oil on canvas
Monet’s Japanese footbridge is illustrated by the artist as a dense mass of allover color. When viewed from afar, the curving bridge, with its trellis and hanging wisteria, emerges in hues of green, red, blue, and yellow. More abstract than his earlier paintings, Monet’s focus here seems to be on his gestural brushstrokes, ranging from swirls to dashes to flecks. The flat, compacted space further links the work to abstraction.
Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris 2023.101
Unknown, French; Claude Monet near the Japanese bridge in his Giverny garden, c. 1915-20; Pierre Choumoff/Viollet
Joan Mitchell,
American (active France), 1925–1992
Beauvais, 1986
oil on canvas
Beauvais highlights the vibrancy of Mitchell’s painting at a time when she had recently returned to work following a hip replacement. Jewel-like colors of sapphire blue and ruby red, as well as oranges, greens, and yellows, are framed in each panel by swirling white brush marks. The soaring masses of color may allude to the Cathedral of Saint Peter of Beauvais—the tallest cathedral in France—that Mitchell visited in 1986 (see image). The artist described the place of worship as “that crazy late Gothic unfinished superb nutty monument to God.”
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris 2023.111a,b
Interior of Cathedral of Saint Peter of Beauvais, France
Claude Monet,
French, 1840–1926
The Path under the Rose Arches, Giverny, 1920–22
oil on canvas
A golden pathway recedes toward the steps of Monet’s house, faintly indicated in black by four horizontal lines. Trellises built for growing roses curve above the path in shades of green. Through the dense foliage, yellow flecks of paint suggest the sun’s light. Monet reproduced this view 20 years earlier with greater precision (see image). The example displayed here showcases the gestural abstraction of his later years.
Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris 2023.103
Claude Monet, French, 1840–1926; A Pathway in Monet’s Garden, Giverny, 1902; oil on canvas; 39 1/4 x 36 11/32 inches; Österreichische Galerie Belvedere
Experiments in Pictorial Space
I forget everything, being so happy to have at last regained the sight of colors.
-Claude Monet, 1925
Music, poems, landscapes, and dogs make me want to paint. And painting is what allows me to survive.
-Joan Mitchell, 1974
In their exploration of abstract effects, Monet and Mitchell often left primed white canvas visible. This choice creates spatial tensions between figure and ground, or subject and background. Monet had often explored the use of such negative space earlier in his career and this approach became more evident in his late work. Often it is difficult to know if his paintings are finished or not.
Mitchell for her part, had created her compositions in this way since the 1950s. Her method set her work apart from the “allover” paintings of many of her Abstract Expressionist contemporaries. As seen in this gallery, Mitchell created complex webs and grids of paint, in which the canvas shows through as an important part of the composition, extending and opening up pictorial space.
In their final years, both Monet and Mitchell had to confront serious health problems. Monet was afflicted with cataracts that had rendered him nearly blind by 1923. In this year, he had three operations on his right eye which succeeded in improving his eyesight to some extent. Mitchell was diagnosed with jaw cancer in 1984 and received exhausting treatments thereafter. Nonetheless, both artists continued to produce works of remarkable freshness and vibrancy.
Joan Mitchell,
American (active France), 1925–1992
South, 1989
oil on canvas
Mitchell’s diptych presents two canvases, each with ascending mountainous forms. South references paintings by French Impressionist Paul Cezanne (1839–1906) of Sainte-Victoire Mountain in southern France (see image). An admirer of Cezanne, Mitchell was familiar with his work since childhood. Here, Mitchell’s slashing red lines are notable, crossing the panels and binding them together. According to her, these lines “return the picture to the surface and put another dimension in the space.”
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris 2023.112a,b
Paul Cezanne, French, 1839–1906; Mont Sainte-Victoire, c.1902–6; oil on canvas; 22 1/2 x 38 1/4 inches; The Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg Collection, Gift of Walter H. and Leonore Annenberg, 1994, Bequest of Walter H. Annenberg, 2022 1994.420
Joan Mitchell,
American (active France), 1925–1992
Ici, 1992
oil on canvas
Painting is a way of feeling alive.
—Joan Mitchell, 1986
Broad strokes in bold shades of blue, orange, yellow, and green mingle with pale purple and deep red. Offsetting the energetic sweeps of color are areas of white primed canvas. Drips and spatters of pigment further animate the surface. Ici, the French word for “here,” was one of Mitchell’s final works. Painted while the artist’s health was in decline, the abstract landscape seemingly expresses that here, at Vétheuil, she was fully alive.
Saint Louis Art Museum, Funds given by the Shoenberg Foundation, Inc. 86:1993a,b
Claude Monet,
French, 1840–1926
Water Lilies, 1917–19
oil on canvas
One of the most abstract paintings of Monet’s career, Water Lilies is without a definite top or bottom. It is presented here as though the loops of green at the base reflect the branches of weeping willow trees. In the upper left corner is the curving bank of a pond with dark blue shadows underneath. Vibrant, horizontal marks in a multitude of colors evoke the rippling surface of water. The primed canvas, intentionally left visible by Monet, conveys a sense of depth and expansiveness.
Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris 2023.98
Joan Mitchell,
American (active France), 1925–1992
River, 1989
oil on canvas
A line of angular yellow marks suggests the presence of the Seine River, seen daily by Mitchell from the veranda of her Vétheuil home. Elsewhere, wavy blue brushstrokes, diluted with turpentine, imitate the sky and movement of clouds. As with Monet, Mitchell emphasized the negative white space of her primed canvas as a crucial part of her composition. The artists, however, differed in their approaches to capturing the French landscape. Monet often worked outside, while Mitchell carefully studied subjects like the river and then painted her memories in her studio.
Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris 2023.114a,b
Claude Monet,
French, 1840–1926
The Japanese Bridge, 1918–24
oil on canvas
Monet’s Japanese footbridge appears in vibrant tones of deep red, with swirls and dashes of green suggesting wisteria vines. Lighter reds and yellows allude to the water’s surface below. At right, vertical streaks of maroon manifest the trunk of a tree. Monet’s use of non-naturalistic colors may stem from the artist’s debilitating cataracts, which yellowed and blurred his vision. This work is one of the most dramatic examples of his late Japanese bridge series.
Musée Marmottan Monet, Paris 2023.102