Yellow band 1956

This is one of Mark Rothko’s colour field paintings, probably oil on canvas, though he was a master of making the colour seem to glow from within. The way he layers the paint, it’s almost like he's not just applying colour but light itself, creating a really immersive experience. It’s all about the physicality of the paint: how it sits on the canvas, how the edges of those rectangles are soft and blurry, not defined, like colour bleeding into colour. Look closely, and you can see the subtle variations in the reds and that glowing yellow, like sunshine after a storm. Rothko's brushwork isn't about showing off skill; it's about presence, about making you feel something. And that band of yellow? It's like a horizon line, a place where earth meets sky, but also a door, or window into some other state. It’s like a portal or a radiant screen saver for the soul. You might think of Barnett Newman, who like Rothko was trying to pare painting down to its essence. Rothko’s works don’t give you answers, but maybe offer a space to ask bigger questions.