Untitled (reclining nude) 1937 - 1938

Mark Rothko painted this reclining nude using oil on canvas. Observe the figure of a woman, her limbs loose, almost disjointed, set against stark contrasting colors. We see the age-old motif of the reclining nude, echoing back to antiquity and Renaissance visions of Venus. Here, though, the classical ideal has been disrupted. Her pose is reminiscent of the ecstatic poses of saints or maenads, her body arched in a gesture of release. It brings to mind Bernini's Saint Teresa in ecstasy, where the saint's surrender mirrors the abandon conveyed by Rothko’s figure. The intense emotion of the image, its capability to evoke powerful, almost subconscious responses, is part of its allure. This image conveys a sense of raw emotion. It is a motif endlessly revisited, each time colored by the collective memory and subconscious desires of its age.