In abstract painting, elements are included not as visual reproductions of objects, but as references or clues to how we conceptualize objects. In describing the world they see, abstract artists not only dismantle many of the building blocks of bottom-up visual processing by eliminating perspective and holistic depiction, they also nullify some of the premises on which bottom-up processing is based. We scan an abstract painting for links between line segments, for recognizable contours and objects, but in the most fragmented works our efforts are thwarted.
Thus the reason abstract art poses such an enormous challenge to the beholder is that it teaches us to look at art and, in a sense, at the world in a new way. Abstract art dares our visual system to interpret an image that is fundamentally different from the kind of images our brain has evolved to reconstruct.
Joan Mitchell was a member of the American abstract expressionist movement, even though much of her career took place in France. She was one of her era’s few female painters to gain critical and public acclaim. Her paintings can be seen in major museums and collections across the United States and Europe.
Today, Blue, by Joni Mitchell, the musician and singer, is generally regarded as one of the greatest albums of all time.
In 2020, Blue was rated the third greatest album of all time in Rolling Stone’s list of the “500 Greatest Albums of All Time”, the highest entry by a female artist.