Figures Reclining on a Beach
c. 1929
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
watercolor, brush and black ink, and graphite on wove paper
Dimensions
overall: 38.5 x 57.2 cm (15 3/16 x 22 1/2 in.)
Classification
Drawing
Department
CG-W
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.
Accession Number
1986.43.207
Art Historical Context
In the sun-drenched serenity of *Figures Reclining on a Beach*, around 1929, Mark Rothko offers a glimpse into his early explorations. At just 26 years old the Latvian-born painter—later renowned for his monumental color-field abstractions—was still honing a more figurative style influenced by Expressionism and urban realism. This intimate drawing, executed in watercolor, brush and black, and graphite on w paper (38.5 x 57.2 cm), captures relaxed human forms lounging amid beachside leisure, evoking the carefree spirit of interwar America. Rothko's use of mixed media here highlights the sponta...
About the Artist
Mark Rothko
Mark Rothko (born Marcus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz, September 25, 1903 – February 25, 1970) stands as one of the most influential figures in twentieth-century American art and a central pioneer of Abstract Expressionism. Born into a Jewish family in Dvinsk (now Daugavpils, Latvia), then part of the Russian Empire, Rothko's early life was marked by the fear and persecution faced by Jews in Tsarist Rus...