The Brooklyn Rail

A Gift from One Artist to Many: The Joan Mitchell Foundation

When painter Joan Mitchell died in 1992, she left instructions in her will that a Foundation be established in her name. The Foundation was to have two distinct yet equally important functions: to “aid and assist” working artists and to serve as the chief steward of her legacy. These two intertwining components have remained at the core of the Joan Mitchell Foundation’s mission, providing the driving vision for all of its work.