Mark Rothko
Mark Rothkowitz Rothko (1903–70) was raised in an Orthodox Jewish family in Dvinsk Latvia, rejecting Jewish observance as a teenager only once they were in the US. Yet his life in New York was inflected by Jewish culture at nearly every turn, especially in the artistic company he kept, including Adolph Gottlieb, Barnett Newman and Louise Nevelson. Plus the curators and critics he dealt and argued with eg Clement Greenberg and Harold Rosenberg. Examine his early works in this blog.
Rothko began with the idea of a painted environment in the 1950s, when he created his Seagram murals for a posh NY restaurant which was still under construction at the time. After completing 40 great paintings in dark reds and browns, he loathed his work being seen as fancy wallpaper. Rothko had a fit of rage, reneged on the deal and withdrew his works in 1958. Alas Rothko’s depression & paranoia were overwhelming him, so the artist stored the paintings until they were given to London’s Tate Gallery
Plaza in front of windowless chapel
Barnett Newman steel monument, Broken Obelisk
While Rothko had succeeded by the 1960s, he felt many viewers failed to grasp the true significance of his works. So he accepted a chapel commission from Franco-American oil philanthropists John and Dominique de Menil in 1964. The chapel was to be the culminating monument in the Catholic University of St Thomas in Houston Texas. Rothko’s wanted to evoke religious responses from viewers. But why was it so crucial to an appreciation of his work?
The project’s first architect, Philip Johnson, had a Greek cross in mind. The chapel was originally intended to be Roman Catholic, modelled on the Byzantine Cathedral of St Maria Assunta in Torcello Venice. But without a gold dome or mosaic of the Madonna and Child or bell tower, the chapel was no northern Italian basilica. Rothko accepted the doctrinal context of the chapel and allowed the 14 Stations of the Cross on the exterior wall.
The project’s first architect, Philip Johnson, had a Greek cross in mind. The chapel was originally intended to be Roman Catholic, modelled on the Byzantine Cathedral of St Maria Assunta in Torcello Venice. But without a gold dome or mosaic of the Madonna and Child or bell tower, the chapel was no northern Italian basilica. Rothko accepted the doctrinal context of the chapel and allowed the 14 Stations of the Cross on the exterior wall.
When the dedication of the chapel occurred in 1971, an interfaith service signified the official opening.
Buddhists
In his early 60s, Mark worked on the Rothko Chapel for 3 years so that he could feel the immersive experience he was seeking. His dark paintings contained dark texture effects. The hues varied, depending on the light intensity, so the paintings were different for every visitor. The human emotion expressed in the different colour values were developed from layered pigments, a charged quality that forced audiences to examine their own emotions.. and made them cry.
Rothko privately sensed a chance to probe feelings that he admitted had been shaped by Jewish experiences of trauma and transcendence. He said that working within the norms of a Christian space was not a rejection of his heritage as much as the freedom to engage religion on his own terms.
The triptych was a medieval form invented to provide altarpieces illustrating generic crucifixions. So the chapel’s most patently Christian gesture was found in Rothko’s 3 nearly identical triptychs which encouraged the viewer’s devotion, as they would a traditional Christian altarpiece.
Dominique de Menil said the chapel was oriented toward the sacred, but it imposed no traditional environment. It offered a place where common orientation could be found, an orientation towards God and to man’s highest aspirations.
At a time when religious observance in the U.S was declining, Rothko was betting on the relevance of religious art! He deliberately tried to harness the conventions of religious viewing, wanting the chapel paintings to be approached with the fervour that a Last Judgment could induce. So Rothko invited viewers to approach his works with visual and spiritual expectations raised by Christian tradition; a resource not seen in Jewish art. In a middle-class part of Houston, on a quiet oak-lined street, the windowless Rothko Chapel was surrounded by a big lawn, a wall of overgrown bamboo, and a reflecting pool with Barnett Newman’s imposing steel monument, Broken Obelisk. But the suite of Rothko paintings that lined the room was transformative.
Rothko hoped his works would create spiritual encounters, like the great old religious master pieces. Despite his enormous success by the mid-1960s, the chapel was giving Rothko his first opportunity to realise his late career goal. He wanted a circuit of permanent paintings that would have a great visceral impact on viewers.
Rothko privately sensed a chance to probe feelings that he admitted had been shaped by Jewish experiences of trauma and transcendence. He said that working within the norms of a Christian space was not a rejection of his heritage as much as the freedom to engage religion on his own terms.
The triptych was a medieval form invented to provide altarpieces illustrating generic crucifixions. So the chapel’s most patently Christian gesture was found in Rothko’s 3 nearly identical triptychs which encouraged the viewer’s devotion, as they would a traditional Christian altarpiece.
Dominique de Menil said the chapel was oriented toward the sacred, but it imposed no traditional environment. It offered a place where common orientation could be found, an orientation towards God and to man’s highest aspirations.
At a time when religious observance in the U.S was declining, Rothko was betting on the relevance of religious art! He deliberately tried to harness the conventions of religious viewing, wanting the chapel paintings to be approached with the fervour that a Last Judgment could induce. So Rothko invited viewers to approach his works with visual and spiritual expectations raised by Christian tradition; a resource not seen in Jewish art. In a middle-class part of Houston, on a quiet oak-lined street, the windowless Rothko Chapel was surrounded by a big lawn, a wall of overgrown bamboo, and a reflecting pool with Barnett Newman’s imposing steel monument, Broken Obelisk. But the suite of Rothko paintings that lined the room was transformative.
Rothko hoped his works would create spiritual encounters, like the great old religious master pieces. Despite his enormous success by the mid-1960s, the chapel was giving Rothko his first opportunity to realise his late career goal. He wanted a circuit of permanent paintings that would have a great visceral impact on viewers.
In 1968 Rothko’s health deteriorated, and he became increasingly isolated. Rothko suicided in 1970, before the final installation of his chapel paintings. A year later the Seagram murals were delivered to the chapel, lowered via the cupola and installed for the opening. At the 1971 dedication, Dominique de Menil praised Rothko’s work for bringing viewers to the threshold of the divine. Since Rothko’s death, the Chapel has become a pilgrimage site, won by the artist’s willingness to probe human experience. Note the creation of the Rothko Chapel Óscar Romero Award in recognition of courageous human rights advocacy and religious pluralism.
For 49 years, the light was never quite right
until the new skylight was created.
After long consultation in 1999, the Rothko Chapel had a year of renovations. For those drawn primarily by the chapel’s interfaith and intercultural mission, the renovation was timely, gaining renewed art-historical importance. But I still ask: what would have led Mark Rothko, a non-practicing Jew, to work with the de Menils, who were motivated by their interest in ecumenical Christianity? They all wanted the chapel to become a place of peace, meditation and prayer! Today its board of directors is led by Rothko’s very clever son Dr Christopher Rothko, and the chapel is in constant use.
In his book Mark Rothko: From the Inside Out, Dr Rothko asked about the influence of Judaism on his father’s art. Dad was the classic depressive Jew who was still open and honest about his Jewish soul-searching, whenever he was among his closest Jewish comrades. Rothko biographer Annie Cohen-Solal also examined Rothko’s relationship to Judaism in her book Mark Rothko: Toward the Light in the Chapel. She argued that throughout life, Mark remained connected to his father’s Orthodox Jewish ways and his own Talmudic education. Mark’s close friend poet Stanley Kunitz felt strongly that Rothko belonged to a great Judaic tradition, which was central to his art and life. It had to do with the sense of being! The best reference is by Aaron Rosen.
The Rothko Chapel, featuring the famous murals by painter Mark Rothko, closed after sustaining damage during Hurricane Beryl in 2024, now awaiting $30 million restoration.