Untitled [verso] c. 1944 - 1946

This untitled work on paper was made by Mark Rothko, but when? The date of creation is uncertain! I can imagine him scratching away, the pencil dancing, trying to capture things that can't really be captured. It’s just black lines on paper, a world of shadowy forms emerging from who knows where. It feels almost automatic, like he's letting the pencil lead him, like a Ouija board. You can feel the scratch of the pencil, the pressure, like he’s trying to pin down some fleeting vision. Those shapes, are they figures, landscapes, or just the ghosts of feelings? Maybe Rothko was doodling while trying to figure out how to get to those rectangles for which he is famous. We all start somewhere. It is interesting to see him just playing. You know that Cy Twombly did something similar. So, if you are a painter, maybe you can also take it as a point of inspiration to just play more.