Seated Boy Wearing Overalls 

Here we see a sketch by Mark Rothko, titled "Seated Boy Wearing Overalls". Rothko captures a young boy, a vision of youthful innocence, clothed in the garb of labor: overalls. This juxtaposition is rich with symbolism, evoking the dignity of work and the premature loss of childhood. Consider how this garment, designed for toil, transforms through time. We see its echoes in peasant garb of Millet’s paintings, each stitch imbued with the weight of generational labor. Yet, fast forward, and the same attire reappears, recast as high fashion, devoid of its original context, illustrating the cyclical nature of symbols. This boy, frozen in ink, stares, confronting us. The artist’s deliberate choice to cloak this figure in the uniform of the worker evokes a deep-seated, almost primal anxiety of life. The symbol is never static, ever evolving.