Cubierta 1960

Mark Rothko made Cubierta with oil paint and probably a brush or two, maybe even a rag or a knife—it’s hard to know exactly, but you get the feeling he was feeling his way through it, pushing and pulling the paint until it was just right. The painting is made up of hazy blocks of red and black floating against a blue background. The color seeps and bleeds at the edges of the rectangles. I can imagine Rothko layering those colors, waiting for them to dry just a bit, and then coming back to smudge the boundaries. I wonder if he was listening to music while he was painting this. Was he tormented or at peace? It's amazing how those colors resonate with each other and how the painting seems to both absorb and radiate light. Rothko was part of a whole conversation among painters, all trying to figure out how to express something profound on a flat surface. It makes you think about the possibilities of painting, where a simple gesture can hold so much feeling and meaning.