the expatriate minister

Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1959, seen at The National Museum of Norway, oil on watercolor paper, 38 X 25 inches.

Today we remember 𝗠𝗔𝗥𝗞 𝗥𝗢𝗧𝗛𝗞𝗢, who died on this day in 1970. Rothko's work has left an indelible impression on millions of people. It is work that draws us every day into museums and makes us travel great distances for the sole purpose of communion with it.

The fact that art exists at all is a steady miracle. It lives embattled, censored and manipulated, and still has managed to survive since people first identified the nature of their consciousness. It is the sincerity of art, rather than its fashion, that keeps it hanging on. In our world, it is only natural for honesty to be immutably compelling.

Many viewers have had transformative emotional experiences interacting with Mark Rothko paintings, the same kinds of experiences Rothko claimed to have painting them.

In his 1958 lecture at Pratt, Rothko's last public statement, he said,"Many of those who are driven to this life are desperately searching for those pockets of silence where we can root and grow. We must all hope we find them."

Mark Rothko The Rothko Chapel, west or east side, 1964–1967, Courtesy of The Menil Collection, Houston

Photo by Paul Hester

“I would like to say what a marvel that you exist, and that you move around in the world as you do.

The magnitude, on every level of experience and meaning, of the task in which you have involved me, exceeds all of my preconceptions. And it is teaching me to extend myself beyond what I thought was possible for me. “

"Behind the color lies the cataclysm."

-Rothko to Brian Corney, 1959 quoted in Chris Stephens, Mark Rothko in Cornwall, Tate St. Ives,1996

Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1950

Oil on canvas

photo by Steve Inlekofer at the Paris LV show

© 2005 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko /

Artists Rights Society (ARS)

As a minor side note, and probably boring to anyone but myself, I'll mention that I have seen Rothko quotes presented in a manner that seems perhaps edited for brevity. I'm not suggesting this quote is, as it is more likely that, since it is transcribed from an earlier conversation, that was not recorded, the vicissitudes of memory are more likely culpable.

However, I mention this only because you will see many quotes, including this one, with different wording, including in this case, "Behind those colors there hides the final cataclysm" and other variations have been printed by reputable sources. I believe the intent is the same, but I mention it for the sake of clarity as I have sometimes complained about the Internet changing quotations! Many Rothko quotes are from his writing and easily checked but this one remains impossibly to verify as it was spoken very long ago and written down (slightly I'm told) after the conversation.

For #HolyTuesday—

“Holy and immortal God,

from earliest times

you have named us

and called us into discipleship.

Teach us to follow the One

whose light scatters the darkness of our world,

that we may walk as children of the light.

Amen.”

Scripture readings for today—

Isaiah 49:1-7

Psalm 71:1-14

1 Corinthians 1:18-31

John 12:20-36

Prayer from the Consultation on Common Texts

God of strength and mercy, by the suffering and death of your Son, free us from slavery to sin and death and protect us in all our weakness; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

—prayer by Don Saliers