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.