Artist 20: Mark Rothko

Mark Rothko was born in 1903 in what is now Latvia.  His family moved immigrated to the United States in 1910 and settled in Portland Oregon in 1913.  At a young age Rothko was forced to get a job in which he was required to learn English.  This left him feeling bitter about his lost years of childhood.  When he graduated high school, Rothko was much more interested in music than in visual art.  He was awarded a scholarship to Yale University, but he felt that the environment was conservative and exclusive, so in 1923 he left without graduating.  After leaving Yale Rothko made his way to New York City where he took odd jobs so that he would be able to attend classes at the Art Students League.  He then returned to Oregon to continue his art career.  Over time his artistic style evolved from figurative to abstract.  In his early works he did many portraits, nudes, and urban scenes in which he blended expressionism and surrealism.  Soft rectangular forms floating on stained color fields characterized Rothko’s later paintings.  His color field paintings were a direct result of his search for new forms of expression.  Because he supported the artist’s total freedom he felt that the art market compromised that freedom.  These feelings put Rothko at odds with the art world, which caused him to refuse commissions, sales, and exhibits at times.  Throughout his life he suffered from severe depression and as a result he committed suicide in 1970, this surprised very few people because he had lost his passion and inspiration for his art.