No. 7 [or] No. 11
1949
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 173 x 111 cm (68 1/8 x 43 11/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CMC
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.
Accession Number
1986.43.144
Art Historical Context
Mark Rothko's *No. 7 [or] No. 11* (1949), an oil on canvas measuring 173 x 111 cm, captures the artist's pivotal shift toward abstraction in the late 1940s. Created during the heyday of Abstract Expressionism in New York this work exemplifies Rothko's early "multiform" phase where hazy, organic shapes float against ethereal backgrounds. Unlike his later iconic rectangular color fields, this piece features softer, biomorphic forms in muted earth tones and subtle reds, inviting viewers into a contemplative space that blurs the line between painting and emotional experience. Rothko, a Latvian-bo...
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...