The global corpus of paintings inspired by the art of Joni Mitchell spans over a bit less than fifteen years.

The first part was produced between 1977 and 1982 (see Background). The second one developed as of 1983, when I had the privilege of meeting Joni Mitchell for the first time in Paris.

This meeting allowed me to present to her the research inspired by her work, carried out since 1977. It also sparked a second generation of works, that finally wrapped up in 1989.

I had the opportunity to meet Joni Mitchell again in 1987, in the United Kingdom where she was recording her thirteenth album Chalk Mark In a Rainstorm, in order to present to her the new work produced after our 1983 interview (see Background).

In 2023, I felt that the time had come for me to create a portrait of the musician and painter, which would evoke her career. I have no rational arguments to support that approach, I only felt that it corresponded to this type of meeting with oneself that life sometimes assigns to one, a programmed stage which means that one’s path has come full circle.

Through this portrait, I meant to represent Joni Mitchell as she appears today, victorious from the ordeal she had to face in 2015. Consequently, a solar portrait, radiating colours and light.

This is how “Hečíya” was born.

The chapter which presents this painting recounts its genesis, and comments on the symbolic contents in which it is rooted.