Untitled
1953
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
pigmented hide glue and oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 195 x 172.1 cm (76 3/4 x 67 3/4 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CMC
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.
Accession Number
1986.43.135
Art Historical Context
Mark Rothko's *Untitled* (1953) exemplifies the artist's profound exploration of color and emotion during the height of Abstract Expressionism. Painted in pigmented hide glue mixed with oil on canvas, this large-scale work—measuring nearly 195 x 172 cm—features Rothko's signature "color fields": soft, luminous rectangles of color that seem to float and merge, blurring the boundaries between figure and ground. Rothko prepared his own paints using hide glue, a technique that allowed for thin, veil-like applications, creating an ethereal depth that invites viewers into a meditative space. Create...
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...