Joan Mitchell is a famous American Abstract Expressionist artist who spent most of her working life in France.
She was born in Chicago and studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, where she won a scholarship to study in Paris and Provence. As a member of the New York School in the 1950s, Mitchell was greatly influenced by Paul Cezanne, Wassily Kandinsky, Claude Monet, and Vincent van Gogh's famous paintings. Later influences from fellow American artists Willem de Kooning and Franz Kline.
In 1959, she moved to France permanently, where she purchased a home in Vetheuil, close to the former home of Claude Monet. She continued to return to the United States on a regular basis.