Rothko, Kunsthistorisches Museum

I had the incredible opportunity to take a trip to Austria last week which I have written about the experience in a previous blog post, but I wanted to discuss the exhibitions I saw in Vienna in more depth. One the museums I visited was the Kunsthistorisches Museum which was holding an exhibition on the paintings by Mark Rothko. I have always wanted to see Rothko paintings in person and they did not disappoint. The sheer size of the canvases Rothko uses is impressive, but the addition of the bold, block of colour painted on to them is what makes them so enticing. Rothko's advanced knowledge of colour is evident in his work and they colour combinations he uses are inspiring. A vast majority of Rothko's paintings contains warm brown and red tones which evoke a strong sense of passion unlike any paintings I have seen before. The earthy colours used in these paintings also remind me of the colours I have observed in landscapes and studying the way in which these colours interact with each other in Rothko's work, is both helpful and influential to my work. Without intending to, I was dressed in colours similar to the paintings on display and so got my mom to take a photograph of me standing in front of them which I have added below. I would highly recommend the experience of visiting an exhibition on Mark Rothko, and would also suggest wearing colour to match his work for some interesting photographs.