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Home>Exhibitions>2023>Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper

# Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper

Past Exhibition

## November 19, 2023 – March 31, 2024East Building Mezzanine and Upper Level

## Notice for visitors:

*This exhibition is popular, and you may need to join a line on weekends and busier days. Please enter the exhibition on the East Building Mezzanine. Independently led groups are not permitted.*

Joy, despair, ecstasy, tragedy: these are some of the themes that Mark Rothko sought to express in his luminous art. Rothko is renowned for his towering abstract paintings on canvas, but few people know that he also created nearly 1,000 paintings on paper over the course of his career. He viewed many of these as finished paintings in their own right—not simply preliminary studies intended for his own eyes. These remarkable works challenge our expectations about what “counts” as painting, as well as popular ideas about Rothko and his career.

This exhibition brings together more than 100 of Rothko’s most compelling paintings on paper, many on view for the first time. They range from early figurative subjects and surrealist works to the soft-edged rectangular fields, often realized at monumental scale, for which Rothko is best known. Together, these radiant, rarely displayed paintings transform our understanding of one of the preeminent artists of the 20th century.

## Selected Works

Mark Rothko, *Untitled*, 1969, acrylic and ink on wove paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1986.43.275. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Mark Rothko, *Untitled (seated woman in striped blouse)*, 1933/1934, watercolor on construction paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1986.56.472. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Mark Rothko, *Untitled (seated figure in interior),* c. 1938, watercolor on construction paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1986.56.511. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Mark Rothko, *Untitled*, 1959, oil on Whatman illustration board, private collection. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Mark Rothko, *Untitled*, 1959, oil and watercolor on watercolor paper, Collection of Christopher Rothko. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Mark Rothko, *Untitled*, 1968, oil and watercolor on watercolor paper mounted on hardboard, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1986.43.263. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Mark Rothko, *Untitled*, c. 1944, watercolor, ink, and graphite on watercolor paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1986.43.178. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko 

Mark Rothko, *The Bathers*, 1934, watercolor on construction paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1986.43.198. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko 

Mark Rothko, *Untitled*, c. 1946, watercolor and ink on watercolor paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1986.43.226. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko 

Mark Rothko, *Untitled*, c. 1948, watercolor on watercolor paper, National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., 1986.43.256. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko 

Mark Rothko, *Untitled*, 1969, acrylic on wove paper mounted on linen, Collection of Christopher Rothko. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko 

Mark Rothko, *Untitled*, 1969, acrylic on wove paper, private collection. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Mark Rothko, *Untitled*, 1969, acrylic on wove paper, private collection. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Mark Rothko, *Untitled*, c. 1949, oil and watercolor on watercolor paper, Collection of Christopher Rothko. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Mark Rothko, *Untitled*, 1959, oil and watercolor on watercolor paper, Collection of Kate Rothko Prizel and Ilya Prizel. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Mark Rothko, *Baptismal Scene*, 1945, watercolor, ink, and graphite on watercolor paper, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, purchase, 46.12. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko. Digital image Whitney Museum of American Art / Licensed by Scala / Art Resource, NY 

Mark Rothko, *Omen*, 1946, watercolor and ink on watercolor paper, The Ulla and Heiner Pietzsch Collection, Berlin. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Mark Rothko, *Untitled*, 1968, acrylic on watercolor paper mounted on linen, private collection, New York. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Mark Rothko, *Untitled*, 1969, acrylic on wove paper, Collection Jon and Kim Shirley. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko 

Mark Rothko, Untitled, 1958, oil on watercolor paper mounted on hardboard, private collection. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko 

## Events

Through March 8Introduction: Rothko Paintings

## Explore & Share

Story
Who Is Mark Rothko? 9 Things to Know
Brush up on key and unexpected details about the modern artist, best known for his colorful abstract paintings. 

Story
How Mark Rothko Made Paintings on Paper
Rothko made more than 1,000 paintings on paper. Get an inside look at his methods and materials.

Story
Artists Who Inspired Mark Rothko
Rothko's style may be singular, but his process emerged through careful study of old masters and collaboration with his contemporaries. From Michelangelo to Milton Avery, meet the artists who left their imprint on Rothko's work. 

Video
Mark Rothko
**A Conversation with Arne Glimcher, Kate Rothko Prizel, and Christopher Rothko**

Watch a moderated a conversation about Mark Rothko’s life and work with three people who have contributed significantly to the public accessibility and understanding of his art.

Video
Adam Greenhalgh
**Introduction to the Exhibition**

Watch an introductory presentation of this exhibition by Adam Greenhalgh, exhibition curator and associate curator at the National Gallery.

Get the book
Read how Rothko’s paintings on paper transform our understanding of the artist. 
Now available

**Organization**                        Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington                    

The exhibition is curated by Adam Greenhalgh, associate curator, National Gallery of Art.

**Other venues** The National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design, Norway, May 16–September 22, 2024

**Sponsors** The exhibition is made possible through the generous support of Lugano Diamonds.

Major support is also provided by the Annenberg Fund for the International Exchange of Art and the Director's Circle of the National Gallery of Art.

Additional support is provided by the Kim and Jon Shirley Foundation and the Terra Foundation for American Art.

**Passes** Admission is always free and passes are not required

**Banner detail**: Mark Rothko, *Untitled*, 1959, oil on Whatman illustration board, Private collection. Copyright © 2023 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko 

The copyright holders are represented by Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York. 

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