Untitled 1944

This untitled painting was made by Mark Rothko, probably sometime mid-century. It's oil on canvas, and you can feel the working of the paint, the way the image emerges tentatively, like an idea you’re not quite sure about yet. I’m really drawn to the earthy, mossy green that dominates the background, punctuated by these almost whimsical, geometric forms. There's a real tension between the flatness of the picture plane and the illusion of depth that Rothko creates with these layered shapes. Look at the way the brushstrokes around the edges of the forms are blurred and feathered, as if he’s searching for the right boundary. It reminds me of Morandi, and the way he endlessly repainted the same bottles, each time trying to grasp something just out of reach. For me, the painting is an exploration of process. Rothko shows us that art is not about definitive statements, but about open-ended inquiry.