Mark Rothko
Red on Maroon
1959
Oil on Canvas
Unfortunately this is not a very good reproduction of the painting, the best I have seen happened to be in a film on Rothko viewed during a class, but this will have to do.
Viewing Rothko's Red on Maroon is being given a opportunity to observe yourself. The painting instills a feeling of amazement, hope, you react nicely to it. It's like a personal epiphany.
Light seeps from some unknown source, unsure of whether it is natural or artificial its filtered through from behind the central most maroon block. Colors important also to the Rothko piece. Red moves towards you while the Maroon is stationary. The painting advances and recedes well.
The place this painting depicts could have been seen, remembered, or invented; seen in a minds eye way, remembered in the same way or invented by a creative mind.
After viewing Red on Maroon you will have the sense of a formerly closed locked bolted shut inner or emotional door or other type of barrier can indeed be taken down by a joyful light. The central maroon block seems to represent anything negative, then there's the forth coming pulsing red that shows there's something better beyond the current obstacle, you just have to unlock it. It's like the light over coming darkness. The painting is very much larger then us aiding in the feeling of a great idea or epiphany as it looms above us.
