Untitled (Gray and Brown)

In the summer of 1968, Mark Rothko began writing a series of paintings made on paper. During this period, he used mainly gray and brown colors, giving the cycle a melancholy emotional sound. The artist moved away from his usual pattern, glorifying him and making him a name. Instead of multi-colored rectangles hovering on a plain background, he gives the canvas in just two color segments, bounded at the edges by a narrow white strip of unpainted paper.

Two years later, just before his death as a result of suicide, Rothko finally left color and wrote a series of similar paintings, where instead of brown the black. Many art critics and fans of the artist’s creativity tend to consider such a departure in black and gray as a logical consequence of his state of mind and a reflection of the depressed period of life.

But other researchers at this stage find the logical development of Rothko's ideas. Thomas Hess, curator and editor of the American publication Art News, wrote: “The paintings of the black and gray cycle seem to be an extension of Rothko’s sensitivity: the elegance with which he paints, the extreme sensuality of the“ horizon ”, where black and gray meet, a special shine along the white edge - a kind of dancing light ... I recall a commentBarnett newman that when an artist refuses colors and comes to black and white, he clears the field for something new, freeing himself for a new experiment. "

The author: Natalia Azarenko