Accession Number
1974/1.104

Title
Sunflower VI

Artist(s)
Joan Mitchell

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1972

Medium & Support
etching on Arches paper

Dimensions
35 3/8 in x 24 7/8 in (89.85 cm x 63.18 cm)

Credit Line
Museum Purchase

Label copy
Joan Mitchell’s art has been inspired not only by nature but also by literature. Her mother was a poet and editor for Poetry magazine, which published writers such as T.S. Eliot, whom Mitchell met and from whom she drew inspiration. Her father was a physician and life-long amateur artist. As a teenager, Mitchell spent summers in the Michigan art colony Oxbox, which earned her credit at the Art Institute of Chicago.
In 1947, Mitchell moved to New York with the intent of studying with artist and teacher Hans Hoffman, but she was intimidated by his teaching methods. By the early 1950s, however, Mitchell was able to establish herself in the New York art world. Unlike the first generation of Abstract Expressionists, who were concerned with separating themselves from European influence and ideas, Mitchell moved to France and continued with her abstract mode of painting. She settled on property previously owned by Monet and was inspired by the same scenery.
The sunflowers that Mitchell had planted in her garden inspired Sunflower VI, just one of a set of prints entitled Sunflower Series. Mitchell explained her attraction to sunflowers this way: "I don’t like fields of sunflowers. I like them alone or painted by van Gogh."
Jamina Ramírez, Intern for Modern and Contemporary Art, on the occasion of the exhibition The New York School: Abstract Expressionism and Beyond, July 20, 2002 – January 19, 2002

Subject matter
Inspired by the sunflowers at her estate in Vétheuil, France—an estate that included a gardner's cottage which was once Claude Monet's home—Mitchell started a series of works depicting the flower. She claimed to have a personal affinity for sunflowers, recognizing them as living creations. Standing as representations of individuals, Mitchell explained her attraction to sunflowers this way: "I don’t like fields of sunflowers. I like them alone or painted by van Gogh." She was an important promoter of the style of the Abstract Expressionists, though unlike the first New York based wave much of her work is focused on nature and the environment. This work shares a title with an earlier large, colorful painting from 1969 (Williams College Museum of Art).

Physical Description
This abstract print has a black circular shape near the center of composition. Around it, there are black and brown lines of varying thickness creating two circular designs in the top half of paper. The print is numbered (l.l.) "26/75" and signed (l.r.) "Joan Mitchell" in pencil.

Primary Object Classification
Print

Primary Object Type
color print

Collection Area
Modern and Contemporary

Rights
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Keywords
Abstract (fine arts style)
Abstract Expressionist
Nature
abstraction
environment (earth sciences concept)
flower (motif)
modern and contemporary art
sunflower