Colorful. Floating. Gestural. These are words that come to mind when considering both Claude Monet’s Water Lilies and the abstract paintings of Joan Mitchell. Born in Paris in 1840, Monet captured light and reflections like no other. His Impressionist studies prompt us to contemplate what it means to see. Joan Mitchell, born in Chicago in 1926, paints nature as a scene of refracted energies. This exhibition—curated in St. Louis by Simon Kelly, and presented in partnership with the Fondation Louis Vuitton and the Musée Marmottan Monet—provides a rare opportunity to consider the work of these two artists side by side. —Thalia Bonas