No. 5 (Untitled)
Artist
Mark Rothko
(American, b. Russia, 1903 - 1970)
Date1949
MediumOil on unprimed canvas
Dimensions85 × 63 × 1 1/4 in. (215.9 × 160 × 3.2 cm)
ClassificationsModern art
Credit LineBequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr.
Object number89.54
Terms
- Abstract
- Blue
- Black
- Tan
- Abstract
- New York
Collections
On View
Not on viewLabel TextMark Rothko American, b. Russia, 1903–1970 No. 5 (Untitled), 1949 Oil on unprimed canvas I’m not interested in the relationship of color to form or anything else. I’m interested only in expressing basic human emotion—tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on… The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them. –Mark Rothko Do you think these hazy blocks of deep blue, grey, and brown convey a sense of sorrow, ecstasy, or doom? Mark Rothko hoped to evoke such poignant emotions by painting rectangles of color that appear to float in space and bleed into their surroundings. Although many of his paintings would feature luminous fields of red, orange, and yellow, Rothko believed that darker colors conveyed the tragic state of existence more successfully than brighter hues. Bequest of Walter P. Chrysler, Jr. 89.54