Ici

This impressive diptych—painting with two panels—is one of Mitchell’s final works and has a vibrancy that belies the artist’s declining health. Energetic sweeps of color, as well as paint drips and spatters, animate the picture surface. A second-generation Abstract Expressionist painter, Mitchell spent much of her life in France, settling in Vétheuil, a rural village outside of Paris, where she painted this composition. The picture’s title translates as “here.” Although it may seem abstract, there are references to nature everywhere, such as an orange sunflower bulb at left center and surrounding blues and greens that suggest sky and foliage.