Title:
Number 207 (Red over Dark Blue on Dark Gray)
Creator/Contributor:
Mark Rothko (artist)
Date:
1961
Identifier:
1965.33
Format:
oil on canvas
Typical of Rothko's work after 1949, Number 207 (Red over Dark Blue on Dark Gray) follows a format of stacked rectangular
forms painted atop a field of color. A key aspect of this format is spatial ambiguity. In Number 207, for example, a subtle
illusion of depth results from Rothko's process of building up the forms with washes and thin layers of at least two or more
related colors for each form. The clouded edges of the forms, which obscure definite overlapping, and colors that variously
recede from or push towards the viewer intensify the sense of instability and movement. Rothko, who along with many other
artists in the 1930s and early 1940s had keen interests in mythic imagery, developed this format in an attempt to arrive at
a contemporary expression of spirituality.
Rothko taught at the California School of Fine Arts (now the San Francisco Art Institute) during the summers of 1947 and 1949.
In 1967, Rothko was a Regents' Lecturer in the Department of Art at the University of California at Berkeley.