Mitchell belonged to the American movement known as the second generation of Abstract Expressionists, which originated after World War II.
The natural environment served as a source of inspiration for Mitchell, especially the scenery in her native Midwest and later her experiences living in France.
She famously said, “I carry my landscapes around with me,” demonstrating how deeply ingrained her environment was in her work.
Mitchell’s accomplishments inspire female artists and feminist art historians, who celebrate her as a pioneering figure in the fight for gender equality in the arts.
[Joan was] Tough, vulnerable, loving, bawdy, bullying, embattled, generous, and enraged; she was as singular as her art, writes Patricia Albers
‘Indeed, she did not invent a new ism. Not only was her art formally idiosyncratic—above all, she was a supreme colourist