Untitled (still life in front of window)
1937/1938
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 71.4 x 91.8 cm (28 1/8 x 36 1/8 in.) framed: 83.8 x 104 x 8.7 cm (33 x 40 15/16 x 3 7/16 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CMC
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.
Accession Number
1986.43.37
Art Historical Context
Mark Rothko's *Untitled (still life in front of window)*, created around 1937–1938, offers a fascinating glimpse into the artist's early career. Painted in oil on canvas and measuring 71.4 x 91.8 cm, this intimate still life captures everyday objects arranged before a window, bathed in natural light. At this stage, Rothko—born Marcus Rothkowitz in 1903 to Russian Jewish immigrants—was experimenting with representational forms, drawing from European traditions before his later embrace of abstraction. This work stands in striking contrast to Rothko's iconic color-field paintings of the 1940s an...
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...