💢

Mark Rothko Untitled (Harvard Mural sketch), 1962 oil, acrylic and mixed media on canvas Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc. 175.6 x 142.6 cm (69 1/8 x 56 1/8 in.) framed: 181 x 148.3 x 7 cm (71 1/4 x 58 3/8 x 2 3/4 in.) Accession Number 1986.43.149 Copyright © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

As most of you know, the murals that Mark Rothko did for Harvard in the early 60s were irreparably damaged and have only been seen restored through the ingenious use of light projection. However, some of the paintings that were not on display, the studies, sketches and alternates, did not meet the same fate. One of the best of these is being shown in Florence right now.

This painting has always been wild to me. I have never seen it in person, but it looks very spontaneous. It has a similar urgency to Rothko's last painting in 1970 in terms of how obvious the brush expression is.

By contrast, when you see the alternates for the Seagram Murals, you really can't tell just by appearance which ones were meant to be final, but to me painting really does look like a sketch. It lacks a certain amount of depth in terms of the layering and the brushwork is quite furious and exposed in a more obvious way we don't usually see with Rothko. Usually that asymmetrical busy painting is further underneath the surface of his pictures. Rothko, likes to hide it like he does with his edges.

And unignorable here is how incredibly bright these colors are, as if he wished to make the picture boldly primitive in every way and really smack you in the face. It's also quite a departure from the religious totems of the finished murals which Rothko had once mused would represent Christ resurrection on Easter morning.

I'm not sure I've seen a blue that's as bright as this ever from Rothko. It's almost the electric in certain light. For a painter with so many recessive tendencies in his layers, this feels almost like it's not dry yet.