About the artist
Mark Rothko , 1903-1970, was an American abstract expressionist painter. He was born in Russia and moved to the United States in 1913. Rothko was a leader of the New York School, a group of abstract expressionists who sought to express universal emotions through abstract forms. His works are characterised by their use of colour and shape to convey a range of emotions. Rothko's personal life was marked by depression and he committed suicide in 1970.
Also associated with: Colour Field painting, Abstract Expressionism, The New York School, Barnett Newman, Clyfford Still, Adolph Gottlieb.