Untitled Mural for End Wall 1959

Mark Rothko made this painting with oil on canvas, using an earthy color palette and a square format, which he often did. I’m imagining him in his studio, wrestling with the scale of the canvas, trying to get the balance right. Look how the orange hovers, vibrating against the darker, brownish ground. I love how you can see the texture of the canvas, and how the paint is applied thinly, in layers, so you can see the history of the making. Rothko was so interested in the surface and the physicality of paint. I can imagine him stepping back, squinting, adjusting the colors until they seemed to glow. He's part of an ongoing conversation between artists—thinking about Matisse, maybe, or even earlier painters, and trying to push the boundaries of color and form. This painting, like all good paintings, invites you into a space of uncertainty, where meaning is fluid and open to interpretation.