Legacy Solo Exhibitions

Joan Mitchell

Several large abstract paintings hang in a white gallery space with several small framed prints, by artist Joan Mitchell.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
A large abstract paintings by artist Joan Mitchell is visible through a doorway in a white gallery space.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
Several large abstract paintings by artist Joan Mitchell hang in a white gallery space.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
A vertical abstract painting by Joan Mitchell, with gestural swashes of burgundy, black and grey on white ground.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
A vertical abstract painting by Joan Mitchell with frenetic vertical gestural marks in black, blues and grey.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
Several large abstract paintings by artist Joan Mitchell hang in a white gallery space.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
Two large abstract paintings by artist Joan Mitchell hang in a white gallery space.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
A large, colorful abstract triptych painting by Joan Mitchell on a wall features vibrant rectangular fields of yellow, green, orange, and red with visible brush strokes
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
On left, an abstract triptych by Joan Mitchell has rectangular fields of different colors and sizes. On right are other just visible abstract paintings.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
3 large abstract paintings by Joan Mitchell hang in a white gallery space.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
Two abstract diptych paintings by Joan Mitchell hand on a wall. The left painting is covered in energetic strokes of primarily yellows, with black marks along the bottom. The right painting is on a white ground, with tangles of blue, yellow and green.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
A large abstract diptych by Joan Mitchell, covered in energetic strokes of primarily yellows, with black marks along the bottom.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
A diptych painting by Joan Mitchell painted on a white ground, with tangles of blue, yellow and green.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
3 large abstract paintings by Joan Mitchell hanging in a white gallery space.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
A four-panel abstract painting by Joan Mitchell with dominant yellow tones, mixed with accents of black, purple, and blue brushstrokes, displayed on a white wall.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work Minnesota at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
Three abstract multipanel paintings by Joan Mitchell
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
Two abstract diptychs by Joan Mitchell hang on a white wall
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
An abstract diptych by Joan Mitchell with vibrant splashes of yellow, green, blue, and red, exhibited on a white gallery wall.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
A large abstract diptych by Joan Mitchell featuring bright yellow, orange, and purple brush strokes with patches of black on a white canvas, displayed against a white wall.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
Several large abstract paintings hang in a white gallery space with several small framed prints, by artist Joan Mitchell.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
Several large abstract paintings primarily in yellow tones hang in a white gallery space with several small framed prints, by artist Joan Mitchell.
Installation view of Joan Mitchell's work at Tate Modern, London. Photo courtesy Tate Modern.
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Date

July 21, 2023 - February 9, 2025

Venue

Tate Modern

Location

Natalie Bell Building
London
England

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About This Exhibition

From Tate Modern:

Born in Chicago in 1925, Joan Mitchell spent formative periods of her career in New York and Paris. Her large abstract canvases and gestural approach to mark-making led to her affiliation with abstract expressionism. She was one of eleven women included in the movement’s first formal presentation - the 9th Street Exhibition held in New York in 1951. Despite this, Mitchell became known as a ‘second generation abstract expressionist’, a title she considered a ‘put-down’.

For Mitchell, abstraction wasn’t just a means of expression, it was also a way to connect with the outside world. In 1955, she began dividing her time between France and the US, moving to Paris in 1959. In 1968, Mitchell relocated to Vétheuil, thirty-five miles north-west of Paris. Her house, La Tour, overlooked the River Seine and was surrounded by lush trees and fields of flowers. While Mitchell found the environment inspiring her work remained abstract. She commented, ‘I could certainly never mirror nature. I would like more to paint what it leaves me with.’

The open-plan layout of Mitchell’s painting studio in Vétheuil allowed her to work with greater freedom than previous studios permitted. Photographs from the time show the artist surrounded by her enormous, multi-panel paintings. The size of these canvases required an athletic approach to painting, perhaps influenced by her experience as a champion figure skater in her youth.

Most of the works presented here were created in the last two decades of Mitchell’s life, a period marked by the deaths of several important figures, and her own cancer diagnosis. Despite this, painting remained a means of existence for Mitchell, ‘Music, poems, landscape, and dogs make me want to paint… And painting is what allows me to survive.’

See details at Tate Modern