Untitled (Standing Man and Woman) 1938

Mark Rothko made this painting of a standing man and woman, we don't know when or with what, but you can see the gestures he uses to define the figures. The tones are earthy, murky, and there's a lot of brown going on. The paint has been applied in thin layers, almost like a wash, with a kind of scrappy, irregular quality. It’s as if he was trying to find the forms through a process of addition and subtraction. Look at the way the woman's dress blends into the background, the color is almost bleeding. It’s not about perfection, it’s about finding the essence. Rothko’s later abstract works might seem to be the polar opposite of this early figurative painting, but I see a continuity. Both are about stripping things down to their emotional core. It reminds me of Milton Avery, another great colorist. And like Avery, Rothko leaves room for ambiguity, for the viewer to complete the story.