Great Art Explained — Season 1, Episode 10: Mark Rothko's Seagram Murals
Documentary • 15 min • 5 seasons, 39 episodes
Episode synopsis
On the 25th February 1970, the Tate gallery in London received nine Mark Rothko canvasses, a generous donation from the artist himself. A few hours later, Rothko was found dead in his studio on East 69th Street in Manhattan. The 66-year-old painter had taken his own life. His suicide would change everything and shape the way we respond to his work. Rothko was aware that people often burst into tears when confronted with his painting. “I’m interested only in expressing basic human emotions, tragedy, ecstasy, doom and so on” he said.
About Great Art Explained
Great Art Explained is a video series that focuses on one piece of art per episode, breaking it down, using clear and concise language free of 'art-speak'.
More episodes from Season 1
- E1Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci (short version)
- E2Picasso’s Guernica
- E3Michelangelo's David
- E4The Raft of the Medusa by Théodore Géricault
- E5Frida Kahlo's 'The Two Fridas"
- E6The Arnolfini Portrait by Jan Van Eyck
- E7Artemisia Gentileschi
- E8Andy Warhol's Marilyn Diptych
- E9Monet's Water Lilies
- E11The Thinker by Rodin