The progression of a painter’s work…will be toward clarity; toward the elimination of all obstacles between the painter and the idea, and between the idea and the observer…to achieve this clarity is, inevitably, to be understood. Mark Rothko More Quotes by Mark Rothko More Quotes From Mark Rothko To me art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take the risk. Mark Rothko courageadventureart There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend: One day, the black will swallow the red. Mark Rothko redblackone-day A painting is not a picture of an experience, but is the experience. Mark Rothko painting The fact that people break down and cry when confronted with my pictures shows that I can communicate those basic human emotions.. the people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when painting them. And if you say you are moved only by their color relationships then you miss the point. Mark Rothko colorreligiouspeople The most interesting painting is one that expresses more of what one thinks than of what one sees Mark Rothko paintinginterestingthinking I'm not an abstractionist. I'm not interested in the relationship of color or form or anything else. I'm interested only in expressing basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on. Mark Rothko creativityphotographyart There is more power in telling little than in telling all. Mark Rothko littles You think my paintings are calm, like windows in some cathedral? You should look again. I'm the most violent of all the American painters. Behind those colours there hides the final cataclysm. Mark Rothko finalslooksthinking When I was a younger man, art was a lonely thing. No galleries, no collectors, no critics, no money. Yet, it was a golden age, for we all had nothing to lose and a vision to gain. Today it is not quite the same. It is a time of tons of verbiage, activity, consumption. Which condition is better for the world at large I shall not venture to discuss. But I do know, that many of those who are driven to this life are desperately searching for those pockets of silence where we can root and grow. We must all hope we find them. Mark Rothko lonelymenart If you are only moved by color relationships, you are missing the point. I am interested in expressing the big emotions - tragedy, ecstasy, doom. Mark Rothko colortragedymissing The artist invites the spectator to take a journey within the realm of the canvas... Without taking the journey, the spectator has really missed the essential experience of the picture. Mark Rothko essentialsartistjourney Art to me is an anecdote of the spirit. Mark Rothko anecdotesspiritart I don't express myself in my paintings. I express my not-self. Mark Rothko paintingexpressionself The people that weep before my paintings are having the same religious experience that I had when I painted it. Mark Rothko emotionreligiouspeople The reason for my painting large canvases is that I want to be intimate and human. To paint a small picture is to place yourself outside your experience, to look upon an experience as a stereopticon view or with a reducing glass. However you paint the larger picture, you are in it. It isn't something you command. Mark Rothko glassesviewslooks I am here to make you think. . . . I am not here to make pretty pictures! Mark Rothko pretty-picturemake-you-thinkthinking Silence is so accurate. Mark Rothko serenityfavouritesilence My art is not abstract, it lives and breathes Mark Rothko breatheabstractart There is no such thing as good painting about nothing. Mark Rothko paintingartist The picture must be... a revelation, an unexpected and unprecedented resolution of an eternally familiar need. Mark Rothko revelationsunexpectedneeds
