Orange and Yellow 1956

Mark Rothko’s ‘Orange and Yellow’ is a large-scale painting of luminous color fields. I imagine Rothko starting with a big, brushed orange ground, then floating a hazy, soft-edged rectangle of yellow on top. What was he thinking as he laid down those layers? I see him, brush in hand, coaxing the colors into being, letting them breathe and vibrate against each other. The paint isn't super thick, but it's got a real physical presence. It's like he's trying to capture something beyond words, a feeling or a mood. Maybe he was inspired by Matisse’s color and wanted to push it further into pure feeling. I wonder if he ever thought of his paintings as portals of light. Rothko, like so many painters, speaks across time and space through the language of painting, searching for ways to express something profound.