Abstract Composition in Purple, Blue, Pink, Black, and Gray c. 1944

This watercolor was made by Mark Rothko sometime in the middle of the last century. Just looking at it makes me think about the act of painting itself, the pushing and pulling of marks as the image slowly comes into being. I imagine Rothko circling around the piece, adding shapes and lines, deciding whether this color should go over that one or whether he should remove it all together. I wonder what he was thinking at the time. It's like he’s making a window but can’t decide what the view should be. There's something circular, with the lines flowing into one another like memories or dreams. The paint is thin, allowing the colors to bleed into each other. I like the confident black lines that seem to float above the more delicate shapes. Rothko’s paintings are not always easy, but he was part of an important conversation among painters. We keep inspiring each other, even across time, to see and feel and make. The act of painting is an ongoing embodied expression of how we can all create something new.