Untitled 1969

Curator: Right now we're standing in front of an untitled work by Mark Rothko, painted in 1969. It’s an oil painting on canvas. Editor: My goodness, it's like gazing into an endless summer sky just before dusk. So simple, just blue over dark gray but feels immensely powerful, like standing on the edge of forever. Curator: Rothko was deeply interested in exploring these raw emotional spaces through colour. Although often described as abstract, Rothko himself insisted that his paintings weren’t abstract at all. He aimed to express fundamental human emotions through pure colour and form. Editor: And does it! You can see how colour field painting stepped away from depicting identifiable objects. What strikes me is how immediate this feels for a work that came out of the late 60's when institutional critique and artivism were at their height. Rothko almost creates a space apart. A space for personal reflection in turbulent times. Curator: Yes, exactly! The scale here is significant; it pulls you into a very personal encounter. The layers of diluted paint almost feel like light, as if the painting itself is breathing. And it invites contemplation –what the Museum provides but the street withholds! Rothko sought to give viewers something almost spiritual through these expansive fields of color. He wanted to evoke silence and contemplation. Editor: I think this work beautifully bridges abstraction and the landscape genre –I see horizon, I feel the atmosphere. Its beauty lies not only in the color harmonies, but also in its ambition of wanting us to dive deeper into ourselves in a time that screams at us daily! Curator: Rothko left an enduring mark in questioning how painting can speak directly to our inner lives. He makes colour the subject, medium and message. Editor: I find the idea incredibly potent in today's chaotic visual landscape –a silent invitation to simply…be.