Identifier:

1965.33

Dates:

1961

Creators:

Mark Rothko United States, born Russia, 1903-1970

Acquisition information:

Gift of Mrs. Philip Guston and Musa Jane Mayer

Physical facet:

oil on canvas

Other descriptive data:

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.

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