No. 2 1947

Mark Rothko made this painting, No. 2, with oil on canvas, and what strikes me is the way he builds these hazy layers. Look at how the colours bleed into each other, it's all about the process of applying and blending. The surface feels soft, almost like looking at a watercolor, but it’s oil, so there’s a richness too. I'm drawn to the way the reds hover over the greys and whites, not quite defined, more like feelings. See that little patch of blue up top? It's like a jolt, a reminder that even in the most subdued moments, there’s always a spark of something else. It’s like a little dare! Rothko reminds me a bit of Agnes Martin, in the way he uses repetition and subtle shifts to create these meditative spaces. But where Martin is all about the grid, Rothko is about the blur. It's not about having one answer, but about letting the questions linger and shift.