Mitchell Johnson’s Personal Color at Galerie Mercier in Paris
Intimate paintings spanning nearly four decades of the artist’s career are on view at the gallery from February 28 to March 21.
In his continued exploration of color, shape, and scale, American painter Mitchell Johnson presents 25 intimate paintings in a solo exhibition at Galerie Mercier in Paris, only a five-minute walk from painter Edward Hopper’s former residence at 48 Rue de Lille in the 7th arrondissement.
Influenced by the works of Hopper and Hans Hofmann, Mitchell Johnson: Personal Color (Selected Small Paintings 1988–2026) is shaped by decades of visits to Paris and Cape Cod, two places that have anchored and evolved Johnson’s painting over the course of his career.
Hofmann, through his teaching, transported the aesthetics and concerns of the School of Paris across the Atlantic, eventually creating a group atelier curriculum that would expand the breadth of American Modernism through his theory of push and pull. While pursuing his MFA at Parsons School of Design in the 1980s, Johnson studied under many of Hofmann’s former students, including Paul Resika, Jane Freilicher, Leland Bell, Robert De Niro, Sr., and Larry Rivers, which informed his personal work and painting style. Through this exhibition, Johnson seeks to bridge the connection between Hofmann’s teaching legacy and its impact on contemporary American painting.
Personal Color will be on view from February 28 through March 21, 2026, with an opening reception held on Saturday, February 28, from 3 to 5pm (CET). An artist talk with Mitchell Johnson will also take place on Saturday, March 14, from 2 to 3pm (CET).
Johnson’s paintings are in 700 private collections and the permanent collections of 40 museums. His work has also been the subject of museum retrospectives at the Bakersfield Museum of Art and Musee Villa Les Camelias in Cap d’Ail, France. Two exhibitions of his large-scale paintings are currently on view in San Francisco through early April.
To learn more, visit mitchelljohnson.com and follow him on Instagram: @mitchell_johnson_artist.
Request a digital catalog by emailing mitchell.catalog@gmail.com.
