Untitled (Harvard Mural sketch) 1962

Mark Rothko made this untitled sketch for a Harvard mural with oil paint, and just look at how those colours sit together. There's this kind of reddish-brown ground, and then these vibrant red bars that seem to float above. Up close, you can see how physical the paint is. It's not trying to hide anything; the brushstrokes are right there, building up the surface. The edges of those red shapes are blurry, like they're dissolving into the background. It feels like Rothko was thinking through painting, letting the materials guide him. The way those three columns hover – they remind me a bit of Barnett Newman’s zips, but with a totally different vibe. Where Newman is all about precision, Rothko is about feeling. You could get lost in those hazy edges, wondering where the red begins and ends. And isn’t that what painting is all about? Exploring the in-between spaces.