Is Rothko an Artist?

Rothko is an artist that is famous for his simple paintings in the world. He’s supposed to be compared with Van Gough, Da Vinci, and other great painters that we’ve come to know. How come Mark Rothko, painting only colors of blocks on canvas, is compared to these amazing artists that did extraordinary paintings, like the Mona Lisa and the Sistine Chapel?

Rothko isn’t an artist. He didn’t know how to paint. He simply took a canvas, started painting different colors and made blocks with those colors. Even though anyone can do that, he was the first person to do something as simple as squares and rectangles with brushes and paints. Since he was the only one to do simple paintings, everyone, at that time, was shocked. “Rothko’s ambition was to rank with the greatest figures of western art.”[1] He wanted to prove that he was an artist like other famous artists. As simple as it is to put random colors on a canvas, he chose the right colors that go together to create a mood.

Rothko only did block of colors as paintings because he had nothing better to do. It is questioned why he did pieces of crap and are considered masterpieces. Many artists after making beautiful pieces have passed away and are remembered because of those memorable pieces. Rothko, unlike other artists, committed suicide at the age of sixty-seven years old. Many contemporary artists question why he killed himself. If a person were to see the works of art in the years Rothko painted, you could see how his art transition from portraits to unique shapes, lines, and shading with colors to the blocks of colors that he is known for. The evolution of his art shows how the passion he had slowly began to die and started to increase his emotions through squares of colors. “The tragedy of Rothko’s death, then, lies not only in its termination of a brilliant career, but in that it marked the end of an attitude towards the role of the artist and art itself.”[2] He was a true artist who expressed himself in the simplest way.


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[1] Waldman, Diane. Mark Rothko A Retrospective. New York: Harry N. Inc., 1978.
[2] Waldman, Diane. Mark Rothko A Retrospective. New York: Harry N. Inc., 1978.


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*Here is link in which you can learn about Mark Rothko and see his paintings.

http://www.nga.gov/feature/rothko/