UNTITLED

This painting has multiple shapes layered on each other, all against a yellow ground. Part of Rothko’s creative process was drawing from religious imagery and Surrealistic biographical fantasy. Art historian, Anna Chave, likened this painting to, “…the cycle of life from cradle to grave, in part by harboring an oblique reference to both adorations and entombments.” (www.guggenheim.org) Chave derives the layered rectangle shapes from religious imagery like the Madonna and Child.

DETAILS:

1947
Oil On Canvas
47 3/4 x 35 1/2 in.
121 x 90.1 cm
Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum
Gift, The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.
86.3420
© 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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