Mark Rothko

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 Mark Rothko was born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz on September 25, 1903, in Dvinsk (then part of the Russian Empire, now Daugavpils, Latvia). He came from a Jewish family: his father Jacob (Yakov) Rothkowitz was a pharmacist and intellectual, and his mother Anna Goldin Rothkowitz supported the household. He was the youngest of four children. Although raised in a Jewish cultural environment, his family’s religious practice was complex: his father was described as “violently anti-religious,” yet young Markus was at one point enrolled in a heder (a Jewish elementary religious school) and studied Hebrew and Talmudic texts. He spoke multiple languages, including Russian, Yiddish, Hebrew and later English. In 1913 his mother and siblings emigrated to the United States (Portland, Oregon) to join family already there, as part of a move to escape anti-Jewish persecution and economic hardship. From his teenage years onward, Rothko grappled with identity—Jewish, immigrant, artist—and his background would subtly inform his later work.  

Rothko became a towering figure of 20th-century art, particularly associated with the Abstract Expressionist movement and more specifically the “color-field” style of painting. He is best known for large canvases composed of broad, soft-edged rectangles of color that seem to float or pulsate almost meditatively. During the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s and ’60s, he created works whose visual power comes from their pure color relationships and emotional resonance rather than from figurative representation. He insisted his aim was not abstraction for abstraction’s sake, but “expressing basic human emotions — tragedy, ecstasy, doom and so on.” He undertook major commissions, including the design of the Rothko Chapel in Houston, Texas, which houses 14 of his dark, contemplative paintings in a meditative space. 

Rothko’s work redefined how color and form could carry profound emotional and spiritual content in modern art, reaching beyond narrative or representation to touch something elemental in viewers. His paintings invite contemplation, introspection and even a kind of ritual experience—not unlike religious or spiritual engagement—despite his personal distancing from organized religion. His Jewish-immigrant background, awareness of suffering in the 20th century (including the Holocaust and displacement) and his sensitivity to existential themes gave his work subtle cultural and moral depth. The Rothko Chapel remains a space of interfaith reflection and dialogue, showing how his art transcends religious boundaries and becomes a common ground for meditation, community, and social justice. His influence continues in how artists and institutions think about art’s capacity to generate emotion, presence and space for reflection.  

• Pioneered the “color-field” painting style—large scale, immersive blocks of color conveying emotion rather than image.
   
• Elevated modern painting into a space of spiritual and existential inquiry, bridging art and human feeling.
   
• Created major public commissions (e.g., Rothko Chapel) that integrate environment, architecture and viewer experience.
   
• As a Jewish immigrant in America, helped shape modern art’s international narrative, contributing to the visibility of Jewish-led innovation in 20th-century culture.
   
• Influenced subsequent generations of artists, curators, museums and viewers to treat painting as immersive experience, not just decoration.
   
• Engaged with themes of tragedy, displacement, identity and transcendence—allowing art to become a form of moral and existential commentary. 

Match the term on the left with its correct description on the right:

• A. Color-field Painting
   
• B. Rothko Chapel
   
• C. Immigrant Experience
   
• D. Basic Human Emotions
   
• E. Teaching at Brooklyn Jewish Center
   

Descriptions:

1. A painting style using large blocks of color to evoke feeling rather than depict image.
    
2. A meditative space in Houston with 14 of Rothko’s paintings installed.
    
3. Rothko’s background arriving in the U.S. from the Russian Empire as a young boy.
    
4. What Rothko claimed he was interested in expressing through his work — such as doom or ecstasy.
    
5. How Rothko supported himself early in his career and remained connected to his community.

• In what ways might Rothko’s immigrant and Jewish background have influenced his work—even if he did not explicitly paint Jewish subjects?
   
• Choose one of Rothko’s large color-field paintings (students can view online). Describe how the color, scale and space make you feel. What do you think the painting might want you to feel or do?
   
• How does the concept of a “chapel for everyone” (like the Rothko Chapel) reflect the idea that art can cross religious or cultural boundaries?