AESTHETICS.

Casa de Vidro, Lina Bo Bardi

MARK ROTHKO, Untitled, 1969.

Acrylic on paper mounted on canvas.

Photo by Eric Keune @erkitekt

183 × 107 cm.

Collection of Kate Rothko Prizel.

© 2020 by Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/ ARS

Mark Rothko - Paintings on Paper opens in Oslo!

The Mark Rothko: Paintings On Paper is a stunning exhibition organized by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, in collaboration with the National Museum, Oslo. The exhibition opened at the National Gallery of Art on 17 November 2023, and opens in the National Museum on 16 May 2024. 

This exhibition marks the first major presentation of the work of Mark Rothko in the Nordic countries. The Washington DC presentation of this exhibit was revelatory experience, and I highly recommend it.

This exhibition examines approximately 100 paintings on paper made throughout Rothko's career, from figurative works of the 1930s, to mythological and surrealist works of the 1940s, to works from the 1950s and 1960s painted in the artist’s signature format: soft-edged rectangular fields arranged against monochrome backgrounds. Centering these paintings on paper offers a new view of the development of Rothko’s oeuvre.  

I have always felt a special emotional attachment to Rothko's late period, and the show has many key examples of this. However, don't sleep on the early works, which until recently were often plagued by old, inferior scans. For me, seeing these  in person, especially the watercolors of his "surrealist" period, made me gain an appreciation for how beautifully layered and constructed these paintings really are. The Rothko that we know and love later is present there in his translucent use of color

The exhibition is accompanied by a research-based publication written by Adam Greenhalgh of the National Gallery of Art, and an introductory book about Mark Rothko, written by Karianne Ommundsen and Øystein Ustvedt of the National Museum.