A blue haze hangs over the darkened sky
Posted: Sat Jul 12, 2025 4:04 am
An abstract painting featuring a mass of red, blue, pink and brown strokes in the center of an off-white background.
Joan Mitchell, City landscape, 1955.
© Estate of Joan Mitchell / Photo Aimee Marshall / Art Institute of Chicago
Paint ‘the moment’
expressionism preferred a style that has been termed total abstraction – think of the expansive drip paintings of Jackson Pollock or the epic and elegiac black-and-white canvases of Franz Kline. However, a number of Mitchell’s canvases stand out from this style, featuring swirling masses that seem to vibrate with life. “Clement Greenberg said there should never be a central image, so I decided to make one,” Mitchell once said, referring to the art critic who was the most vocal representative. of abstract expressionism.
The basis of Mitchell’s “central images” changed depending on her region, mood, and company she kept. But trees were one of the constants of his work. In Great careers (1961-1962), for example, a swirling mixture of job function email database burnt umber, mint green and deep blue looms in front of the viewer, appearing to float above or stand in front of a messy white background dripping and splashed with yellow . It is only by deepening the study of Mitchell’s work that we will be able to discover his referent: the cypresses of the Grandes Carrières district in Paris, which the artist frequented.
For Mitchell, the trees acted as symbols of mortality and substitutes for those close to him. But viewers wouldn’t necessarily know just by watching. In the days of Abstract Expressionism, the content was considered anathema. Form – the way materials were handled and came to blend – was seen as the most important way to make an artistic statement. Mitchell seems to have endorsed this idea in her work, but unlike some of her colleagues, she has also favored visual enjoyment. In 1957, for a famous ARTnews profile titled “Mitchell Paints a Picture,” she told critic Irving Sandler, “I’m not a member of the makeup school.”
A two-part abstract painting with large speck-like shapes made up of blue, yellow, and green paint.
Joan Mitchell, City landscape, 1955.
© Estate of Joan Mitchell / Photo Aimee Marshall / Art Institute of Chicago
Paint ‘the moment’
expressionism preferred a style that has been termed total abstraction – think of the expansive drip paintings of Jackson Pollock or the epic and elegiac black-and-white canvases of Franz Kline. However, a number of Mitchell’s canvases stand out from this style, featuring swirling masses that seem to vibrate with life. “Clement Greenberg said there should never be a central image, so I decided to make one,” Mitchell once said, referring to the art critic who was the most vocal representative. of abstract expressionism.
The basis of Mitchell’s “central images” changed depending on her region, mood, and company she kept. But trees were one of the constants of his work. In Great careers (1961-1962), for example, a swirling mixture of job function email database burnt umber, mint green and deep blue looms in front of the viewer, appearing to float above or stand in front of a messy white background dripping and splashed with yellow . It is only by deepening the study of Mitchell’s work that we will be able to discover his referent: the cypresses of the Grandes Carrières district in Paris, which the artist frequented.
For Mitchell, the trees acted as symbols of mortality and substitutes for those close to him. But viewers wouldn’t necessarily know just by watching. In the days of Abstract Expressionism, the content was considered anathema. Form – the way materials were handled and came to blend – was seen as the most important way to make an artistic statement. Mitchell seems to have endorsed this idea in her work, but unlike some of her colleagues, she has also favored visual enjoyment. In 1957, for a famous ARTnews profile titled “Mitchell Paints a Picture,” she told critic Irving Sandler, “I’m not a member of the makeup school.”
A two-part abstract painting with large speck-like shapes made up of blue, yellow, and green paint.