What is so great about Mark Rothko's paintings? Do you like them?

Question

He killed himself my slashing his wrists and you call that an expression of art? Damn, I call that artless and pathetic. I dislike him more now.

Answer 1

Oh, I hate Rothko's paintings! I majored in art in college and never understood what was so great about his "work". He didn't even do most of it. He slapped the first color on and then people who worked for him did the rest of it. It's unfair to even put his name on them, the slacker. What irks me is his stuff is "so great" and the art I did in college never made it into a show and I thought my stuff was way better. Shoot, at least I was the one who did mine!

Answer 2

it was the thin veils of colors that he expertly laid onto the canvas in such a way as to cause optical illusions if one looked carefully enough- He basically was exploring the type of painting that Turner did- yet he also broke away from traditional painting by not focusing on subjects/objects, but making color vibrations the main actor- it is said that if you look at a rothko- you will begin to see an undulation, vibration, waving action take place- and this is accomplished by expertly and very very subtly laying in colors in just the right proximities to other colors so that it creates a visual excitation in our vision- He deemphasized form by doing away with sharp edges (like on the squares and rectangles and such) to give the impression that the forms were 'free floating' to further enhance the feelign that the colors were moving, vibrating, undulating within the frame- You will also notice the corners are all softened and rounded- it was another subtle psychological 'trick' that he used to 'move the viewer' to a reaction- If you view his paintings carefully, you will see that they are made up of many transparent washed of color which gives 'depth' to the forms, and further creates the illusion of movement- especially when you focus on like say a mid transparent layer slipping beneath a more opaque grayer color, only to reemerge a few inches away under a more brilliant color- it makes you eye want to 'follow' the one color to it's conclusion or resting point- and usually the resting points were a complimentary color- causing a visual excitation once again- there is a lot going on in his paintings- it's not just one or two sloppy layers of flat paint-

Answer 3

Yeah, I like them....they are another stage in the evolution of painting.

Rothko wanted to show a progression into and out of the paintings, the creation of form and space without using mythologies. He used color and light to help generate expression of subjective feelings. But be careful, Rothko himself advised against telling people how to look at, or what to look for in, paintings...lest there be a "paralysis of the mind and imagination."

Answer 4

They're great because historically, they represented a radical break from everything that was supposed to define painting in the past. After that painting was supposed to be "dead" because there were no more rules left to break. Fortunately for us painters it is not really just about radical shifts as defined by art historians... personally I like the boldness of Rothko's work and the sense of atmosphere in spite of extreme minimalism. Later imitators however I find quite irksome. Once an all black or all white painting has been done, it's not very exciting to copy it.

Answer 5

Understanding pure abstract expressionism is not automatic. It takes some time. Time spent looking, and more looking, and seeing all the different kinds of art, and more looking and then eventually you might begin to understand how to look at/see pure abstraction.

It's really not possible to explain why Rothko is a genius to someone who doesn't get abstract art to begin with.

As for 'artsycasey', she is wrong and doesn't get it. Rothko didn't have studio assistants to help with parts of the backgrounds of his paintings until he was already well established and wealthy enough to hire them. As for her not being able to understand why HE was famous and SHE couldn't get her work shown....well gee. Imagine that. Sour grapes much?

Answer 6

I never fully appreciated Mark Rothko's paintings until I saw an exhibit with several in a room. The experience was very profound. There is something deeply spiritual about being in the presence of his work, but it is one of those, "you had to be there" kind of things. Yes, I like them very much.

Answer 7

One of my favourite artists! To appreciate Rothko's work you have to learn to 'read' each piece as an autobiography. They represent the artists life when read from bottom upwards. You can almost always read your own life into them as well. Perhaps his greatest work of art was his suicide; he slashed his wrists and died alone in a massive pool of his own blood. The ultimate statement. Autobiographical? or what?

Answer 8

Try staring at one at close range for about five minutes. You might see some cool stuff.