Mark Rothko
 | |
| Mark Rothko | |
| Birth name | Marcus Rothkowitz |
|---|---|
| Born | 1903 |
| Birthplace | Dvinsk, Russian Empire |
| Died | 1970 |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Painter |
| Known for | Abstract paintings of stacked color fields; Rothko Chapel |
Mark Rothko (1903–1970), born Marcus Rothkowitz, was an American painter known for large abstract compositions of softly edged, stacked rectangles of color. Born in Dvinsk, then in the Russian Empire, he immigrated to the United States as a child and later worked in New York.[1] He is often associated with Abstract Expressionism and Color Field painting, although he rejected both labels.[2]
Development
Rothko's early paintings included portraits, urban scenes and landscapes. During the late 1930s and 1940s he explored mythology and Surrealism before turning to nonrepresentational painting. By about 1950 he had developed the arrangement of stacked rectangular color fields associated with his mature work.[1]
Seagram murals
In the late 1950s, Rothko was commissioned to paint murals for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York's Seagram Building, designed by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. The series marked a shift from the bright colors of his earlier work toward maroon, dark red and black. Rothko later decided that a restaurant was not an appropriate setting for the paintings; he withdrew from the commission, returned his fee, and in 1969 gave nine of the works to the Tate in London.[3] He also undertook a mural commission for Harvard University.[1]
Rothko Chapel
The Seagram paintings inspired John and Dominique de Menil to commission Rothko, in 1964, to create murals for a chapel in Houston. After more than two years of work, he completed the suite of 14 paintings in 1967: seven with hard-edged black rectangles on maroon grounds and seven purple tonal paintings. He placed particular importance on the natural light in which they would be seen. Rothko died in 1970, before the paintings were installed; the Rothko Chapel, designed by Philip Johnson, Howard Barnstone and Eugene Aubry, opened in 1971.[2][4]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 "Mark Rothko". National Gallery of Art. Retrieved 2026-10-16.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "About". Rothko Chapel. Retrieved 2026-10-16.
- ↑ "Rothko's Seagram Murals come to Tate St Ives for the first time this summer". Tate. Retrieved 2026-10-19.
- ↑ "Menil, Dominique Isaline Schlumberger de". Handbook of Texas, Texas State Historical Association. Retrieved 2026-10-19.