Rothko 1957-70
1957 No 11 by Mark Rothko
2013 SOLD for $ 46M including premium by Christie's
narrated in 2020
In 1954 Mark Rothko is very irritated because his solo exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago is a great success. The public is still influenced by journalists and he fears that from then on nobody will understand the mystical meaning of his art or, still worse, will consider him as a colorist or a decorator. In the following year Yves Klein will have a similar reaction during the first exhibition of his monochromes.
Rothko's opinion is difficult to anticipate. In 1955 he was furious with an art critic who had declared that he was a leader of post-war art because he perfectly mastered the serenity of the symmetries. In 1954 he expressed a great satisfaction when another critic observed that the tension in the color relationships was so great that it gave the impression of an imminent outburst.
In his fame, Rothko became completely misanthropic and frustrated. In 1955, for the simple pleasure of getting angry with this former friend, Clyfford Still and Barnett Newman described his art as commercial and bourgeois. Subsequently Rothko worked hard on his paintings without resorting to words. He will never disclose the real causes of his unilateral abandonment of the Seagram Murals project in 1959, which was certainly due to his self-esteem.
The opus numbered 11 in the nomenclature of 1957 is related to its traditional style, with a background of glowing orange structures still livened up by the contrast with a luminescent rectangle. This oil on canvas 202 x 177 cm was sold for $ 46M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2013 over a lower estimate of $ 25M, lot 21.
Rothko seeks again and again to reveal the forces of pain, violence, tragedy and ecstasy. Also in 1957 he begins to systematically experience the existence of an intense emotional expression in dark colors. The opus numbered 17 in the nomenclature for that year is a demonstrative example. This oil on canvas 233 x 177 cm was sold for $ 32.6M including premium by Christie's on May 10, 2016.
Rothko's opinion is difficult to anticipate. In 1955 he was furious with an art critic who had declared that he was a leader of post-war art because he perfectly mastered the serenity of the symmetries. In 1954 he expressed a great satisfaction when another critic observed that the tension in the color relationships was so great that it gave the impression of an imminent outburst.
In his fame, Rothko became completely misanthropic and frustrated. In 1955, for the simple pleasure of getting angry with this former friend, Clyfford Still and Barnett Newman described his art as commercial and bourgeois. Subsequently Rothko worked hard on his paintings without resorting to words. He will never disclose the real causes of his unilateral abandonment of the Seagram Murals project in 1959, which was certainly due to his self-esteem.
The opus numbered 11 in the nomenclature of 1957 is related to its traditional style, with a background of glowing orange structures still livened up by the contrast with a luminescent rectangle. This oil on canvas 202 x 177 cm was sold for $ 46M including premium by Christie's on November 12, 2013 over a lower estimate of $ 25M, lot 21.
Rothko seeks again and again to reveal the forces of pain, violence, tragedy and ecstasy. Also in 1957 he begins to systematically experience the existence of an intense emotional expression in dark colors. The opus numbered 17 in the nomenclature for that year is a demonstrative example. This oil on canvas 233 x 177 cm was sold for $ 32.6M including premium by Christie's on May 10, 2016.
1957 The Philosopher of Emotion
2016 SOLD for $ 32.6M including premium
Mark Rothko is much more than a colorist. He is a philosopher of emotion. The colors oppose together like in a composition by Cézanne. No shape is recognizable and the general structure of the abstraction varies relatively little. Each color has its own emotional properties and all of them are accepted.
The blocks are carefully filled. In 1957, the control of his technique is total. The intensity of the hue in each zone is gradual by a painstaking application of matte or glossy pigments in successive veils. The feeling is transmitted by the transition into the gaps. The position of the blue plays a disruptive role that excites the emotion.
On May 10 in New York, Christie's sells No. 17 from 1957, oil on canvas 233 x 177 cm, lot 17 B estimated $ 30M, also known in its subtitle Green on Blue on Blue which indicates by itself the exceptional subtlety of this opus.
The two green areas, or more exactly verdant, of unequal heights occupy the largest part of the surface, positioned over a thin cobalt blue rim. They are separated by a thin azure blue strip which has been entirely framed in a royal blue window.
The catalog reminds the consciousness of Rothko into his own art: "The people who weep before my paintings are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them". Pollock had expressed the soil. With No. 17 of 1957, Rothko communicates with the viewer by using the colors of vegetation and sky in a geometry and proportions that resolutely reject any figurative interpretation.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
The blocks are carefully filled. In 1957, the control of his technique is total. The intensity of the hue in each zone is gradual by a painstaking application of matte or glossy pigments in successive veils. The feeling is transmitted by the transition into the gaps. The position of the blue plays a disruptive role that excites the emotion.
On May 10 in New York, Christie's sells No. 17 from 1957, oil on canvas 233 x 177 cm, lot 17 B estimated $ 30M, also known in its subtitle Green on Blue on Blue which indicates by itself the exceptional subtlety of this opus.
The two green areas, or more exactly verdant, of unequal heights occupy the largest part of the surface, positioned over a thin cobalt blue rim. They are separated by a thin azure blue strip which has been entirely framed in a royal blue window.
The catalog reminds the consciousness of Rothko into his own art: "The people who weep before my paintings are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them". Pollock had expressed the soil. With No. 17 of 1957, Rothko communicates with the viewer by using the colors of vegetation and sky in a geometry and proportions that resolutely reject any figurative interpretation.
I invite you to watch the video shared by Christie's.
1958 The Transcending Color of Mark Rothko
2015 SOLD for $ 82M including premium
In 1958, Mark Rothko is famous and unhappy. He is unhappy because he is famous and because he sees the public admiring the game of balance between the bright colors of his signature blocks. He targeted to show the variety of emotions from mystical to profane but is he more than just a designer?
He accepts at first a huge order for the future restaurant in Seagram's building but this step forward certainly increases his confusion. In an extraordinary burst of creativity, he rejects the vivid colors. Rembrandt knew how to throw the light out of the shadow, there is no reason that could prevent Rothko to do it.
On May 15, 2013 in New York, Christie's sold for $ 27M including premium a Black on Maroon 183 x 114 cm that participates in that momentum and is not yet a symptom of the tragic depression of the artist in the following decade.
On May 13 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 35B the No 10 (1958), oil on canvas 239 x 176 cm. An infinite variety of colors predominantly brown interweaves within the rectangles whose structure is superseded by a magnificent halo effect.
When he broke with Seagram's, Rothko said not without wickedness that he wanted to cut hunger to the restaurant's guests. With this No. 10 contemporary of that failed project, the frustrated artist wanted to replace the sensational by the sublime but his art was to become increasingly elitist.
The video shared by Christie's shows the key importance of that year in the creative process of this highly temperamental artist.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
He accepts at first a huge order for the future restaurant in Seagram's building but this step forward certainly increases his confusion. In an extraordinary burst of creativity, he rejects the vivid colors. Rembrandt knew how to throw the light out of the shadow, there is no reason that could prevent Rothko to do it.
On May 15, 2013 in New York, Christie's sold for $ 27M including premium a Black on Maroon 183 x 114 cm that participates in that momentum and is not yet a symptom of the tragic depression of the artist in the following decade.
On May 13 in New York, Christie's sells as lot 35B the No 10 (1958), oil on canvas 239 x 176 cm. An infinite variety of colors predominantly brown interweaves within the rectangles whose structure is superseded by a magnificent halo effect.
When he broke with Seagram's, Rothko said not without wickedness that he wanted to cut hunger to the restaurant's guests. With this No. 10 contemporary of that failed project, the frustrated artist wanted to replace the sensational by the sublime but his art was to become increasingly elitist.
The video shared by Christie's shows the key importance of that year in the creative process of this highly temperamental artist.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1958 The Year of the Seagram Murals
2015 SOLD for $ 40.5M including premium
1958 marked a turning point in the work of Mark Rothko, with two major concerns: increasing the luminescence to avoid assimilation to kitsch and releasing his art from the vertical format less suitable for his new project of the Seagram Murals. It may even seem surprising that the artist had much neglected the horizontal format so conducive to offer an immersion when facing the alignment of the eyes of the viewer.
Looking for strong colors, he achieves an incandescent heat by confronting red and orange. No. 36 (black stripe) is an astonishing abstract landscape, oil on canvas 157 x 170 cm.
The red background is reduced to the edges and inter-blocks of the picture but sets the tone by its aggressive light. The rectangles that widely spread in this new balance of composition are a dazzling orange and a narrower dark red separated by a dominating deep black stripe.
Mark Rothko, by his temperamental personality, did not try to communicate with relatives but with humanity by providing emotions altogether basic and intense. Moved by the strength of the red, he almost reaches his admitted but impossible purpose that the creator of the art and the observer must feel the same mesmerizing effect.
No. 36 is estimated $ 30M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 11, lot 13A. I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house.
Looking for strong colors, he achieves an incandescent heat by confronting red and orange. No. 36 (black stripe) is an astonishing abstract landscape, oil on canvas 157 x 170 cm.
The red background is reduced to the edges and inter-blocks of the picture but sets the tone by its aggressive light. The rectangles that widely spread in this new balance of composition are a dazzling orange and a narrower dark red separated by a dominating deep black stripe.
Mark Rothko, by his temperamental personality, did not try to communicate with relatives but with humanity by providing emotions altogether basic and intense. Moved by the strength of the red, he almost reaches his admitted but impossible purpose that the creator of the art and the observer must feel the same mesmerizing effect.
No. 36 is estimated $ 30M for sale by Christie's in New York on May 11, lot 13A. I invite you to watch the video shared by the auction house.
1960 Rothko from Decoration to Meditation
2019 SOLD for $ 50M including premium
In 1958 Mark Rothko accepted the contract with the Seagram company for a series of murals to decorate the new Four Seasons restaurant. The dark colors chosen by the artist are paradoxically expressing some disgust of the luxury atmosphere for which he performs this work.
In the following year, while the paintings were nearly completed, Rothko abruptly breaks the contract and returns to Seagram the money that had been paid in advance. He did not give a clear explanation of this decision. The artist was indeed known as temperamental, but we may especially question why he had accepted this contract that went against his social ideas.
The sequence that led to this anger, however, has a plausible hypothesis. Between acceptance and rejection of the contract, Rothko made a tour of Europe. While admiring Michelangelo in Florence, he understands the major role of the place where an artwork is exhibited. He has a too great opinion of his own art to become a mere restaurant decorator.
On May 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells a 175 x 127 cm oil on canvas painted in 1960, lot 12 estimated $ 35M.
This composition is a hybrid between the dialogue of dark colors, here a burgundy rectangle and a maroon rectangle, and a creamy white rectangle at the bottom of the image. Such an extreme opposition is rare in Rothko's art. It can be compared to a Dark over Light painted in 1954, sold for $ 30.7M including premium by Christie's on May 17, 2018, for which the rational explanation was the simulation of a window of light to snap the viewer up to this work.
In 1962 John and Dominique de Menil discover the expressive power of the dark hues of Rothko's Seagram style. From 1965 they sponsor a place of meditation that is much better suited to the artist than a luxury restaurant and which will become the Rothko Chapel.
Please watch the two videos shared by Sotheby's, in the categories First Look and Expert Voices.
In the following year, while the paintings were nearly completed, Rothko abruptly breaks the contract and returns to Seagram the money that had been paid in advance. He did not give a clear explanation of this decision. The artist was indeed known as temperamental, but we may especially question why he had accepted this contract that went against his social ideas.
The sequence that led to this anger, however, has a plausible hypothesis. Between acceptance and rejection of the contract, Rothko made a tour of Europe. While admiring Michelangelo in Florence, he understands the major role of the place where an artwork is exhibited. He has a too great opinion of his own art to become a mere restaurant decorator.
On May 16 in New York, Sotheby's sells a 175 x 127 cm oil on canvas painted in 1960, lot 12 estimated $ 35M.
This composition is a hybrid between the dialogue of dark colors, here a burgundy rectangle and a maroon rectangle, and a creamy white rectangle at the bottom of the image. Such an extreme opposition is rare in Rothko's art. It can be compared to a Dark over Light painted in 1954, sold for $ 30.7M including premium by Christie's on May 17, 2018, for which the rational explanation was the simulation of a window of light to snap the viewer up to this work.
In 1962 John and Dominique de Menil discover the expressive power of the dark hues of Rothko's Seagram style. From 1965 they sponsor a place of meditation that is much better suited to the artist than a luxury restaurant and which will become the Rothko Chapel.
Please watch the two videos shared by Sotheby's, in the categories First Look and Expert Voices.
1961 The Vibrant Vermilion of Mark Rothko
2012 SOLD 87 M$ including premium
The art of Mark Rothko reached the top of its power in 1961.
The dimensions of his canvases have increased and are standardized. The rectangles occupy almost all the available surface, over a negligible neutral background. Most significantly, the preferred color of the artist is now the most vibrant of them : red.
On May 8 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas, 236 x 206 cm, titled Orange, Red, Yellow. It is dominated by a bright vermilion, omnipresent, whose perfect monochromy is the result of a meticulous brushwork.
This painting was owned since 1967 by a demanding collector who considered it as one of the most successful pieces in Rothko's art. Its estimate, $ 35M, is consistent with the results already discussed in this column for his works of the same year.
POST SALE COMMENT
The demanding collector had a good taste. 45 years later, his vermilion Rothko is enshrined as one of the masterpieces of the artist. It was sold $ 87M including premium.
It is gratifying to note that this fabulous price rewards a work from the best years of maturity of the master. The oil on canvas with more varied colors which was sold $ 73M including premium by Sotheby's on May 15, 2007 was made in 1950, 11 years before.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
The dimensions of his canvases have increased and are standardized. The rectangles occupy almost all the available surface, over a negligible neutral background. Most significantly, the preferred color of the artist is now the most vibrant of them : red.
On May 8 in New York, Christie's sells an oil on canvas, 236 x 206 cm, titled Orange, Red, Yellow. It is dominated by a bright vermilion, omnipresent, whose perfect monochromy is the result of a meticulous brushwork.
This painting was owned since 1967 by a demanding collector who considered it as one of the most successful pieces in Rothko's art. Its estimate, $ 35M, is consistent with the results already discussed in this column for his works of the same year.
POST SALE COMMENT
The demanding collector had a good taste. 45 years later, his vermilion Rothko is enshrined as one of the masterpieces of the artist. It was sold $ 87M including premium.
It is gratifying to note that this fabulous price rewards a work from the best years of maturity of the master. The oil on canvas with more varied colors which was sold $ 73M including premium by Sotheby's on May 15, 2007 was made in 1950, 11 years before.
The low resolution image below is shared by Wikimedia for fair use :
1961 Pink and Red on Gold
2011 SOLD 33.7 M$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
The output of some artists is fully indexed. Indeed, the experts are proud to announce that Mark Rothko created 835 paintings. Exactly.
The introduction at Christie's of a 836th opus arouses amazement and wonder. Signed, dated 1961, numbered 17,this oil on canvas was known only to its owner who had bought it directly from the artist.
We know that the market is always welcoming the unpublished works when they are authenticated. Rothko was such amagician of color that it is probably impossible to deceive his best connoisseurs.
This would not, of course, be enough to claim for $ 18M on May 11 in New York, but we are really dealing with a masterpiece. Rothko achieves the feat to generate a great brightness, even when it is reproduced with the low quality of the web, with extremely opaque monochrome rectangles against a gold background. The image is visible on the article shared by the Wall Street Journal.
The two rectangles with fringed edges have the same width. The top one, which is the smaller, is deep pink, the other is dark red.
The format, 236 x 193 cm, is large enough to immerse the visitor, according to the powerful theory of the artist. The dimensions of the canvas, the proportions and arrangement of the rectangles are very close to the haunting red Rothko, painted in the same year, sold $ 31.4 million including premium by Sotheby's on May 12, 2010.
POST SALE COMMENT
This is a major work of Rothko. We imagined its power, even on the poor images of the web. It deserves its price: $ 33.7 million including premium.
The output of some artists is fully indexed. Indeed, the experts are proud to announce that Mark Rothko created 835 paintings. Exactly.
The introduction at Christie's of a 836th opus arouses amazement and wonder. Signed, dated 1961, numbered 17,this oil on canvas was known only to its owner who had bought it directly from the artist.
We know that the market is always welcoming the unpublished works when they are authenticated. Rothko was such amagician of color that it is probably impossible to deceive his best connoisseurs.
This would not, of course, be enough to claim for $ 18M on May 11 in New York, but we are really dealing with a masterpiece. Rothko achieves the feat to generate a great brightness, even when it is reproduced with the low quality of the web, with extremely opaque monochrome rectangles against a gold background. The image is visible on the article shared by the Wall Street Journal.
The two rectangles with fringed edges have the same width. The top one, which is the smaller, is deep pink, the other is dark red.
The format, 236 x 193 cm, is large enough to immerse the visitor, according to the powerful theory of the artist. The dimensions of the canvas, the proportions and arrangement of the rectangles are very close to the haunting red Rothko, painted in the same year, sold $ 31.4 million including premium by Sotheby's on May 12, 2010.
POST SALE COMMENT
This is a major work of Rothko. We imagined its power, even on the poor images of the web. It deserves its price: $ 33.7 million including premium.
1961 The Red Rothko
2010 SOLD 31.4 M$ including premium
PRE SALE DISCUSSION
Rothko's art has achieved very high prices because the artist was a perfectionist of color, or more precisely of the relationship between colors on the canvas where he laid them as two, three or four large monochrome rectangles separated by narrow spaces.
The painting to be sold by Sotheby's on May 12 in New York marks a turning point in the artist's career: it is almost entirely monochrome, red. Its date, 1961, is important because it corresponds to the period of overactivity of Yves Klein from across the Atlantic. This can not be a coincidence.
Red, at the end of the visible spectrum, is a warm and powerful color which can become obsessive. In this painting, it is treated in saturation, and in a format specially large for this artist: 237 x 204 cm.
The estimated $ 18 million is low enough to ensure the success of the sale.
POST SALE COMMENT
It was said that this Rothko was better than its estimate. It is now confirmed: $ 31.4 million including premium. Somehow unusual, it reflects a turning point in the vision of this extraordinary artist.
Rothko's art has achieved very high prices because the artist was a perfectionist of color, or more precisely of the relationship between colors on the canvas where he laid them as two, three or four large monochrome rectangles separated by narrow spaces.
The painting to be sold by Sotheby's on May 12 in New York marks a turning point in the artist's career: it is almost entirely monochrome, red. Its date, 1961, is important because it corresponds to the period of overactivity of Yves Klein from across the Atlantic. This can not be a coincidence.
Red, at the end of the visible spectrum, is a warm and powerful color which can become obsessive. In this painting, it is treated in saturation, and in a format specially large for this artist: 237 x 204 cm.
The estimated $ 18 million is low enough to ensure the success of the sale.
POST SALE COMMENT
It was said that this Rothko was better than its estimate. It is now confirmed: $ 31.4 million including premium. Somehow unusual, it reflects a turning point in the vision of this extraordinary artist.
1962 Mysteries and Meditations
2018 SOLD for $ 36M including premium
During the last twenty years of his life, Mark Rothko constructed an extraordinary compilation of the representation of emotions through confrontations between colors.
The darkest colors are not gloomy. They can even be the totality of a painting provided that they are shimmering. To test this very particular style, the artist is encouraged by the dark walls in the Villa of Mysteries at Pompeii.
Rothko wants to share his emotions by immersing the visitor in his art. Most viewers do not have his hypersensitivity or his culture and the dialogues are difficult, especially since the opuses have no title and are not explained. The couple of patrons John and Dominique de Menil manage to integrate this very hermetic teaching.
On November 15 in New York, Christie's sells Untitled (rust and two blacks on plum), oil on canvas painted in 1962, lot 18 Cestimated $ 35M.
The layout of the rectangles is classic in the artist's style and the almost square 152 x 145 cm format is common in the phase following the failed Seagram Murals project. Its tones altogether subtle and extreme appeal to the artist who hangs the artwork in his studio. Dominique de Menil is convinced.
In 1964 the de Menils concretized their relationship with the artist by offering to finance a space of meditation in Houston. For this project that will become the Rothko Chapel, Rothko achieves the best of his darker art. The installation inspired by Monet's Grandes Décorations is posthumous.
Dominique included that seminal 1962 piece in a temporary exhibition during the lifetime of the artist but she did not buy it. Maintaining up to now the enthusiasm of the de Menil family, it had been acquired in 1979 by their son François.
The darkest colors are not gloomy. They can even be the totality of a painting provided that they are shimmering. To test this very particular style, the artist is encouraged by the dark walls in the Villa of Mysteries at Pompeii.
Rothko wants to share his emotions by immersing the visitor in his art. Most viewers do not have his hypersensitivity or his culture and the dialogues are difficult, especially since the opuses have no title and are not explained. The couple of patrons John and Dominique de Menil manage to integrate this very hermetic teaching.
On November 15 in New York, Christie's sells Untitled (rust and two blacks on plum), oil on canvas painted in 1962, lot 18 Cestimated $ 35M.
The layout of the rectangles is classic in the artist's style and the almost square 152 x 145 cm format is common in the phase following the failed Seagram Murals project. Its tones altogether subtle and extreme appeal to the artist who hangs the artwork in his studio. Dominique de Menil is convinced.
In 1964 the de Menils concretized their relationship with the artist by offering to finance a space of meditation in Houston. For this project that will become the Rothko Chapel, Rothko achieves the best of his darker art. The installation inspired by Monet's Grandes Décorations is posthumous.
Dominique included that seminal 1962 piece in a temporary exhibition during the lifetime of the artist but she did not buy it. Maintaining up to now the enthusiasm of the de Menil family, it had been acquired in 1979 by their son François.
1970 Mark Rothko's Penultimate Painting
2014 SOLD for $ 40M by Sotheby's
From the later 1940s, Mark Rothko had managed to express by the relations between colors his global vision of all emotions and cultures. From the spring of 1968, everything goes wrong. He is cardiac, drinker, smoker, irritable, depressive, almost impotent. His wife leaves on the 1969 new year's day. He paints in black on gray his new tragic feeling on the meaning of life.
Yet at the beginning of 1970, this highly effective colorist lives a sort of mental restart. The penultimate of the three oils on canvas painted in this very short period, 173 x 137 cm, was sold for $ 40M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Sotheby's on November 10, 2014, lot 6, then coming from the Mellon collection. It was sold for $ 38M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 10 B.
This vibrant work catches the light by dark glowing colors, in a spectacular departure from the black on gray. It expresses the threat of nightfall by its three dark green regions on a rich saturated indigo blue background.
His last canvas, 152 x 145 cm, belonging to the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., is its counterpart in red over red and acrylic. Both together constitute the translation of his despair into the sublime and his final effort to stage a large-scale abstract scenery. Rothko sliced his arms with a razor on February 25, 1970.
Yet at the beginning of 1970, this highly effective colorist lives a sort of mental restart. The penultimate of the three oils on canvas painted in this very short period, 173 x 137 cm, was sold for $ 40M from a lower estimate of $ 15M by Sotheby's on November 10, 2014, lot 6, then coming from the Mellon collection. It was sold for $ 38M by Christie's on May 13, 2021, lot 10 B.
This vibrant work catches the light by dark glowing colors, in a spectacular departure from the black on gray. It expresses the threat of nightfall by its three dark green regions on a rich saturated indigo blue background.
His last canvas, 152 x 145 cm, belonging to the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., is its counterpart in red over red and acrylic. Both together constitute the translation of his despair into the sublime and his final effort to stage a large-scale abstract scenery. Rothko sliced his arms with a razor on February 25, 1970.
