Untitled (Seagram Mural sketch)
1959
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
oil and acrylic on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 182.8 x 152.6 cm (71 15/16 x 60 1/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CMC
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.
Accession Number
1985.38.3
Art Historical Context
Mark Rothko's *Untitled (Seagram M sketch)* from 1959 is a glimpse into the artist's ambitious mural project for New York City's Seagram Building. Commissioned in 195 alongside Philip Johnson and Mies van der Rohe, Rothko created a series of large-scale paintings intended to evoke introspection in a luxurious dining space. This oil and acrylic on canvas sketch, measuring nearly six feet tall, captures his early explorations with expansive fields of color—deep reds and blacks that hover and blend, drawing viewers into emotional depths. As a cornerstone of Abstract Expressionism, Rothko's work ...
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...