Rothko

Mark Rothko (1903-1970) was a great advocate for the artist's complete freedom of expression and shunned classifications and any attempt to interpret his paintings. Although he is considered a key figure in the Abstract expressionism , trained in New York City, Rothko rejected labels and insisted on the creation of “a complete experience between the painting and the viewer.”

After a figurative period, Rothko developed his iconic canvases of blocks of bright colors in red, yellow, ochre, brown, black, or green. He emphasized that he had not eliminated the human figure with these bright and vivid spaces of color, but had replaced it with symbols or shapes that contained all the tragedy of the human condition. At the same time, he explicitly attributed to the viewer the power to interpret his work. As he said: “A painting lives in company, expanding and coming to life before the eyes of the sensitive viewer.”

From his early beginnings to his most famous color fields, this book reveals the intelligence and influence of Rothko's dramatic, intimate, and revolutionary work.