Untitled [verso] 1944 - 1945

This untitled watercolour was made by Mark Rothko, we think, around 1938-41, and it’s like looking at a jazz composition. See how the blues and reds kind of float and bleed into each other, while the black lines cut through, creating a rhythm? Rothko’s application of paint is so interesting here; it’s thin in places, allowing the paper to breathe, and then thick and juicy in others. You can see these broad brushstrokes that feel so immediate, like he’s trying to capture a feeling more than a form. Look at the centre. Those furious loops, like the eye of a storm, or maybe a whirling dervish, full of energy and tension, don’t you think? This piece reminds me of Kandinsky's earlier abstract works, that aim to express inner emotional states through pure form and color. Rothko, like Kandinsky, invites us to lose ourselves in the ambiguity and find our own meaning within the brushstrokes. Art is always an ongoing conversation.