Monet / Mitchell: Painting the French LandscapeHardcover, 5 June 2023

A fresh view of Monet and Mitchell, two of the most experimental painters of the twentieth century.

French Impressionist Claude Monet (1840-1926) famously drew inspiration from nature near his home in Giverny: from sunlight on the Seine, textured flowers in his garden, weeping willow trees, and waterlilies floating below his Japanese bridge. In 1967, American abstract expressionist Joan Mitchell (1925-92) moved to Vétheuil, a village just miles from Monet's estate. There, the French landscape began to emerge in her paintings: the branches of a linden tree, expansive fields, tangles of greenery, and the river and sky.

Monet / Mitchell: Painting the French Landscape examines the aesthetic and thematic dialogue between these important artists, the subject of a 2023 exhibit at the Saint Louis Art Museum. Twelve paintings by each artist reveal similarities in their subject matter, composition, vibrant color, and gestural brushwork.