No. 73
Mark Rothko (American, born Latvia, 1903–1970)

Details
Title
No. 73
Artist/Maker
Mark Rothko (American, born Latvia, 1903–1970)
Date
1952
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Support/Overall: 55 5/16 × 30 5/16 inches (140.5 cm × 77 cm) Framed/Mounted: 63 9/16 × 37 1/2 × 3 inches (161.4 cm × 95.3 cm × 7.6 cm)
Credit
Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.
Accession #
1985.27
No. 73 is an example of Mark Rothko’s mature style and displays his successful development of stacked rectangles and muted colors. From a profound desire to express “the big emotions—tragedy, ecstasy, doom,” he investigated multiple painting techniques and materials. For Rothko, the abandonment of specific imagery allowed for a poetic, universal evocation of intangible subjects, inspired by so-called primitive art and mythology. In his mature work, glowing and hovering fields of color pull the viewer in, inviting a sense of absorption.
Image Copyright
© 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/ ARS NY