Mitchell ranks among the most eloquent interpreters of allover gestural painting associated with Abstract Expressionism in the 1950s. After her permanent move to France from New York in 1959, she continued to expand her abstract vocabulary by responding to her natural surroundings, in a way that recalls Claude Monet’s Impressionist views of his gardens at Giverny. The four joined canvases of La Vie en Rose (titled after Edith Piaf’s famed romantic song of the 1940s) present an immersive, lilac-tinted panorama activated by staccato but lyrical brushwork in black, lavender, pink, and gray hues. The panels function as distinct episodes or stanzas that convey sensory responses and feelings that unfold over time, while the picture plane alternatively asserts itself and fades away into hazy atmosphere.
Dimensions:Overall: 9 ft. 2 1/2 in. × 22 ft. 3 15/16 in. × 4 in. (280.7 × 680.6 × 10.2 cm) a - far left panel: 9 ft. 2 1/2 in. × 70 7/8 in. × 1 1/8 in. (280.7 × 180 × 2.9 cm) b - center left panel: 9 ft. 2 1/4 in. × 63 1/8 in. × 1 1/4 in. (280 × 160.3 × 3.2 cm) c - center right panel: 9 ft. 2 3/8 in. × 63 1/8 in. × 1 1/4 in. (280.4 × 160.3 × 3.2 cm) d - far right panel: 9 ft. 2 1/2 in. × 70 7/8 in. × 1 1/4 in. (280.7 × 180 × 3.2 cm)
Classification:Paintings
Credit Line:Anonymous Gift and Purchase, George A. Hearn Fund, by exchange, 1991
Accession Number:1991.139a-d
Inscription: Signed (lower right): Joan Mitchell
the artist, Vétheuil, France (1979–91; sold to MMA)
ARC/Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. "Tendances de l'art en France, 1968–1978/9," September 13–October 21, 1979, not in catalogue.
Seattle. Richard Hines Gallery. "Joan Mitchell: Major Paintings," April 23–May 31, 1980, no catalogue.
Washington, D.C. Corcoran Gallery of Art. "The 37th Biennial Exhibition of Contemporary American Painting," February 19–April 5, 1981, no. 20 (lent courtesy of Xavier Fourcade, Inc., New York).
ARC/Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. "Joan Mitchell: Choix de Peintures, 1970–1982," June 24–September 6, 1982, unnumbered cat. (lent by Xavier Fourcade, Inc., New-York-N.Y.-U.S.A.).
Washington. Corcoran Gallery of Art. "The Paintings of Joan Mitchell: Thirty-Six Years of Natural Expressionism," February 27–May 1, 1988, unnumbered cat. (pp. 160–61; lent by Robert Miller Gallery and Bernard Lennon, Inc., New York).
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "The Paintings of Joan Mitchell: Thirty-Six Years of Natural Expressionism," May 26–July 17, 1988, unnumbered cat.
Buffalo. Albright-Knox Art Gallery. "The Paintings of Joan Mitchell: Thirty-Six Years of Natural Expressionism," September 17–November 6, 1988, unnumbered cat.
La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art. "The Paintings of Joan Mitchell: Thirty-Six Years of Natural Expressionism," December 12, 1988–January 29, 1989, unnumbered cat.
Ithaca, N. Y. Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University. "The Paintings of Joan Mitchell: Thirty-Six Years of Natural Expressionism," February 26–April 23, 1989, unnumbered cat.
New York. Robert Miller Gallery. "Some Seventies Works," June 12–July 27, 1990, no catalogue.
New York. Whitney Museum of American Art. "The Paintings of Joan Mitchell," June 20–September 29, 2002, unnumbered cat. (pl. 43).
Birmingham Museum of Art. "The Paintings of Joan Mitchell," June 27–August 31, 2003, unnumbered cat.
Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth. "The Paintings of Joan Mitchell," September 21, 2003–January 7, 2004, unnumbered cat.
Washington, D.C. Phillips Collection. "The Paintings of Joan Mitchell," February 14–May 16, 2004, unnumbered cat.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "Joan Mitchell," September 4, 2021–January 17, 2022, unnumbered cat. (pl. 99).
Baltimore Museum of Art. "Joan Mitchell," March 6–August 14, 2022, unnumbered cat.
Yves Michaud. Joan Mitchell: La Grande vallée. Exh. cat., Galerie Jean Fournier. Paris, 1984, p. 45.
Lisa M. Messinger in "Recent Acquisitions. A Selection: 1991–1992." Metropolitan Museum of Art Bulletin 50 (Fall 1992), pp. 68–69, ill. (color).
Catherine Flohic. "Joan Mitchell." Ninety no. 10 (1993), p. 4.
Michael Kimmelman. "At the Met with Elizabeth Murray: Looking for the Magic in Painting." New York Times (October 21, 1994), p. C28.
Joan Mitchell. Exh. cat., Galerie nationale du Jeu de Paume. Paris, 1994, p. 121.
Debbie Taylor. Joan Mitchell: Paintings 1956 to 1958, From the Estate of Joan Mitchell. Exh. cat., Robert Miller Gallery. New York, 1996, unpaginated.
Debbie Taylor inJoan Mitchell. Exh. cat., IVAM Centre Julio González. Valencia, 1997, p. 107.
Klaus Kertess. "The Paintings of Joan Mitchell." Joan Mitchell. New York, 1997, p. 36, colorpl. 68.
Debbie Taylor. "Bibliography." Joan Mitchell. New York, 1997, p. 182.
Alberto Manguel. Reading Pictures: A History of Love and Hate. New York, 2000, p. 34.
Jane Livingston inThe Paintings of Joan Mitchell. Ed. Jane Livingston. Exh. cat., Whitney Museum of American Art. Berkeley, 2002, pp. 38, 40, 200, colorpl. 43.
Nathan Kernan. "New York. Joan Mitchell." Burlington Magazine 144 (September 2002), p. 580.
Michael Kimmelman. "In Joyous Colors, a Hint of Joys Lost." New York Times (July 5, 2002), p. E33.
Richard Kalina. "Expressing the Abstract." Art in America 90 (December 2002), p. 94.
John Loughery. "Appetite: Surfeit and Wonder." Hudson Review 55 (Winter 2003), p. 659.
Siri Hustvedt. Mysteries of the Rectangle: Essays on Painting. New York, 2005, p. 141.
Arthur C. Danto. Unnatural Wonders: Essays from the Gap Between Art and Life. New York, 2005, pp. 203– 4.
Maggie Nelson. Women, the New York School, and Other True Abstractions. Iowa City, 2007, p. 22.
Jill Weinberg Adams. Joan Mitchell: Paintings and Pastels 1973–1983. Exh. cat., Lennon, Weinberg, Inc. New York, 2008, p. 8.
Sandro Parmiggiani inJoan Mitchell. Ed. Nils Ohlsen. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle Emden. Heidelberg, 2008, pp. 46, 56.
Lena Nievers inJoan Mitchell. Ed. Nils Ohlsen. Exh. cat., Kunsthalle Emden. Heidelberg, 2008, pp. 129, 133.
Sandro Parmiggiani inJoan Mitchell: La pittura dei Due Mondi/ La peinture des Deux Mondes. Ed. Sandro Parmiggiani. Exh. cat., Palazzo Magnani. Milan, 2009, pp. 23, 41, 222, 226.
Sophie Lévy inJoan Mitchell: La pittura dei Due Mondi/ La peinture des Deux Mondes. Ed. Sandro Parmiggiani. Exh. cat., Palazzo Magnani. Milan, 2009, pp. 71, 79.
Gisèle Barreau inJoan Mitchell: La pittura dei Due Mondi/ La peinture des Deux Mondes. Ed. Sandro Parmiggiani. Exh. cat., Palazzo Magnani. Milan, 2009, pp. 140, 148.
Joan Mitchell: The Roaring Fifties. Exh. cat., Galerie Thomas Modern. Munich, 2010, p. 44.
Joan Mitchell. Exh. cat., Inverleith House, Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh. Edinburgh, 2010, unpaginated.
Patricia Albers. Joan Mitchell: Lady Painter: A Life. New York, 2011, pp. 271, 358, 406.
Max Hollein. Modern and Contemporary Art in The Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York, 2019, ill. pp. 144–45 (color).
Katy Siegel inJoan Mitchell. Ed. Sarah Roberts and Katy Siegel. Exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco, 2020, pp. 293–95, fig. 9.1 (color, image with artist in studio).
Gisèle Barreau inJoan Mitchell. Ed. Sarah Roberts and Katy Siegel. Exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco, 2020, pp. 322, 364 n.12, colorpl. 99 (overall and detail).
Joyce Pensato inJoan Mitchell. Ed. Sarah Roberts and Katy Siegel. Exh. cat., San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. San Francisco, 2020, p. 326.
Tausif Noor. "Laying Down a Foundation for Greatness." New York Times (September 3, 2021), ill. p. C8 (color).
Edward Hopper (American, Nyack, New York 1882–1967 New York)
1930
Resources for Research
The Met's Libraries and Research Centers provide unparalleled resources for research and welcome an international community of students and scholars.
The Met Collection API is where all makers, creators, researchers, and dreamers can connect to the most up-to-date data and public domain images for The Met collection. Open Access data and public domain images are available for unrestricted commercial and noncommercial use without permission or fee.
Feedback
We continue to research and examine historical and cultural context for objects in The Met collection. If you have comments or questions about this object record, please complete and submit this form. The Museum looks forward to receiving your comments.
The Met's engagement with art from 1890 to today includes the acquisition and exhibition of works in a range of media, spanning movements in modernism to contemporary practices from across the globe.
