Ochre and Red on Red

Mark Rothko wanted viewers to have an emotional experience when standing before his paintings, and this work from 1954 is a perfect example of his signature style. Two soft-edged rectangles float on a glowing red background: a golden-yellow form hovers above a deeper red one below. The edges seem to pulse and breathe, never quite staying still as you look at them. Rothko carefully layered thin washes of paint to create these luminous, almost atmospheric blocks of color.

These paintings aren't meant to be decorative or represent anything specific from the real world. Rothko believed that color itself could express profound human emotions like joy, despair, or transcendence. He preferred his large canvases to be viewed up close in intimate settings, where viewers could be enveloped by the color fields and have what he described as an almost spiritual encounter. Some people find his work meditative and moving, while others see nothing more than rectangles. Either reaction says something about how we connect with abstract art, and Rothko would probably say that any genuine feeling in response to his work means it's doing its job.