Mark Rothko
Born Marcus Rothkovitch in Russia in 1903, his family emigrated to United States in 1913 and settled in Portland, Oregon.
Rothko settled in New York City in 1925.
There he started painting and briefly studied under Max Weber, but he was essentially a self-taught artist.
His work grew in abstraction to the colour field paintings for which he is best known.
These Abstract Expressionist paintings were highly personal to Rothko, with large, rectangular areas of colour, usually three, that seem to melt into one another and float over the canvas.
Colour was Rothko's sole means of expression.
Through color, he provides a emotional and spiritual journey for the viewer.
His paintings, contrary to other Abstract Expressionists, were executed with virtually gestureless brushwork, which is perhaps what makes his work so compelling.
