Joan Mitchell

Metro belongs to an early phase in Mitchell’s long career, when she started to earn fame for abstract paintings that balance spontaneity with planning. Its composition is centrifugal: wide patches of reds, maroons, olive greens, and whites clustered in the canvas’s upper center are effectively spinning off into thinner arcs at the sides and bottom.

A Rebours. Centro Atlantico de Arte Moderno (organizer) (April 20-June 13, 1999); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina SofÍa (July 6-October 11, 1999).

A Rebours

Gallery One 2012. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (December 12, 2012-March 5, 2017).

Gallery One 2012

Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (September 11, 2022-January 8, 2023).

Impressionism to Modernism: The Keithley Collection

Newport Beach, CA, Newport Harbor Art Museum (June 28-September 9, 1984) Action/Precision: The New Direction in New York, 1955-60, cat. no. 35, p. 122, repr. p. 123, also traveled to: Worcester, MA, Worcester Art Museum(3 October - 25 November 1984); Grey Art Gallery, New York University (15 January - 23 February 1984); Cincinnati, OH, the Contemporary Arts Center (14 March - 27 April 1984); Buffalo, NY, Albright-Knox Gallery (14 September - 3 November 1984);  Archer M. Huntington Art Gallery, University of Texas at Austin (12 January - 23 February 1986).

Washington DC, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Joan Mitchell: A Retrospective Exhibition (26 February - 1 May 1988); also traveled to San Francisco, CA, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (26 May - 18 July 1988); Buffalo, NY, Albright-Knox Gallery (17 September - 6 November 1988); La Jolla, CA, La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art (2 December 1988 - 29 January 1989); Ithaca, NY, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University (26 February - 23 April 1989); ill. cat. no. 35, p. 122.

Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain (4/20/99 - 6/13/99); Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia (7/6/99 - 10/11/99) "A Rebours" p. 237 (repr.).

Oil painting with frenetic, thick and streaking strokes of predominantly muted red, green, and white concentrated at the center and thickening towards the edges of each stroke. Only occasional thinning streaks of paint reach the bare corners of the canvas. 

A horizontally oriented oil painting features frenetic, thick and streaking strokes of predominantly muted red, green, and white concentrated at the center and thickening toward the edges of each stroke. Only occasional thinning streaks of paint reach the bare corners of the canvas.

The child of a poet, Mitchell wrote poetry throughout her life. Whether in words or paint, Mitchell believed that "if it's not spelled out, it doesn't matter. That's how I feel about my painting."

Joan Mitchell, Poet

"It's hard to figure out why it comes together or what I'm painting about," Joan Mitchell once said. The title Metro is hard to interpret. Mitchell titled her paintings after they were finished, using words that weren't always readily associated with a specific meaning.

What's in a title?

Thick strokes of paint are piled up onto the surface. In some places, the marks made by her brush and palette knife are visible. This technique of applying paint is called impasto, meaning "dough" or "mixture" in Italian.

Metro

Joan Mitchell

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Metro

Joan Mitchell

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Metro

Joan Mitchell

Did You Know?

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Metro

Joan Mitchell

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