Mark Rothko

Mark Rothko was an influential twentieth-century painter best known for his large-scale colour field paintings that sought to evoke profound emotional and spiritual responses. Although commonly associated with American abstract painting, his work transcended stylistic labels, focusing instead on the universal themes of tragedy, ecstasy, and the human condition. Rothko’s paintings, characterised by floating rectangular forms and luminous layers of colour, remain among the most recognisable and critically discussed works of modern art.
Born in Eastern Europe and later established in the United States, Rothko developed a highly individual visual language that rejected narrative representation in favour of direct emotional communication. His insistence that art should address fundamental human experiences placed him at the centre of debates about abstraction, meaning, and the purpose of art in the modern age.

Early Life and Education

Mark Rothko was born in 1903 in Dvinsk, then part of the Russian Empire (now Daugavpils, Latvia), into a Jewish family. In 1913, amid political instability and rising antisemitism, his family emigrated to the United States and settled in Portland, Oregon. Rothko excelled academically and demonstrated early intellectual curiosity, particularly in literature and philosophy.
In 1921, he received a scholarship to Yale University, where he studied liberal arts. However, he became disillusioned with the institution’s elitism and lack of engagement with contemporary ideas, leaving without completing his degree. His move to New York in the mid-1920s proved decisive, as exposure to the city’s vibrant artistic environment led him to pursue painting seriously.

Artistic Training and Influences

Rothko enrolled at the Art Students League of New York, studying under Max Weber, who introduced him to modern European art, including Cubism and Expressionism. Early in his career, Rothko produced figurative and urban scenes influenced by social realism and expressionist styles. These works often depicted subway passengers, city streets, and intimate interior scenes, reflecting both isolation and shared human experience.
Literature, mythology, and philosophy played a crucial role in shaping Rothko’s thinking. He was deeply influenced by the writings of Friedrich Nietzsche, particularly The Birth of Tragedy, which emphasised the emotional power of ancient myth. These ideas informed Rothko’s belief that art should communicate timeless and universal truths rather than depict specific events or objects.

Transition to Abstraction

During the late 1930s and early 1940s, Rothko gradually moved away from figurative painting. Alongside contemporaries such as Adolph Gottlieb and Barnett Newman, he explored symbolic and myth-inspired imagery as a means of expressing psychological and existential themes. This transitional phase featured biomorphic shapes and ambiguous forms, influenced in part by Surrealism and the idea of tapping into the unconscious mind.
By the late 1940s, Rothko abandoned symbolic imagery altogether, arriving at the style for which he is best known. He began creating compositions of soft-edged rectangular fields of colour, stacked vertically and hovering against a subtly coloured background. This marked the emergence of his mature colour field paintings.

Colour Field Paintings

Rothko’s signature works, produced primarily between the late 1940s and his death in 1970, consist of large canvases dominated by two or three rectangular colour forms. These shapes appear to float, their edges blurred and their surfaces built up through multiple translucent layers of paint. The scale of the canvases was intentional, designed to envelop the viewer and create an intimate, immersive experience.
Colour in Rothko’s work was not decorative but expressive. He carefully selected and layered hues to evoke specific emotional states, ranging from warmth and transcendence to melancholy and despair. He rejected purely formal interpretations of his paintings, insisting that they were about fundamental human emotions rather than colour relationships alone.
Key characteristics of Rothko’s colour field paintings include:

• Large-scale canvases intended for close viewing
• Soft, diffused edges that create a sense of movement and depth
• Layered pigments producing luminous, atmospheric effects
• Minimal compositional elements to focus attention on emotional impact

Artistic Philosophy and Intent

Rothko was explicit about his artistic aims, frequently articulating his belief that art should engage viewers on a deeply emotional level. He rejected the idea that his paintings were abstract in a purely formal sense, arguing instead that they were vehicles for expressing universal human experiences such as tragedy, doom, joy, and transcendence.
He was also particular about how his works were displayed. Rothko preferred dim lighting and close spacing between paintings, believing that such conditions encouraged contemplation and emotional engagement. He discouraged intellectualised analysis and instead urged viewers to respond intuitively and personally to his work.

Major Commissions and Projects

One of Rothko’s most significant commissions was the series of murals intended for the Seagram Building in New York during the late 1950s. Although he ultimately withdrew from the project, dissatisfied with the commercial context, the resulting paintings are considered among his most powerful works. These murals are characterised by darker tones and a more sombre mood, reflecting Rothko’s increasing preoccupation with mortality and introspection.
Another landmark project was the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas, completed after his death. The chapel houses a series of monumental paintings in deep purples and blacks, arranged in an octagonal space designed for quiet reflection. The project exemplifies Rothko’s aspiration to create environments that function as spaces for spiritual and emotional contemplation.

Later Years and Personal Struggles

In the 1960s, Rothko’s palette became progressively darker, shifting towards maroons, browns, greys, and blacks. This change coincided with declining health, including heart problems, and ongoing struggles with depression. Despite continued critical acclaim, Rothko found it increasingly difficult to reconcile his artistic ideals with the commercial art world.
In 1970, Mark Rothko died by suicide in his New York studio. His death prompted renewed attention to the emotional intensity and existential depth of his work, as well as discussions about the pressures faced by modern artists.