Mark Rothko, Red on Maroon, 1959

Artist : Mark Rothko (1903–1970)

Title : Red on Maroon , Date: 1959

Medium : Oil paint, acrylic paint and glue on canvas

Dimensions: support: 1829 x 4572 x 31 mm

Collection: Tate Modern, London

This paintings are the part of the group of the Seagram Murals.

Rothko agreed to provide paintings for the New York Seagram building’s new luxury restaurant, the Four Seasons in 1958. For Rothko, this commission presented a new challenge for it was the first time he was required not only to design a coordinated series of paintings, but to produce an artwork space concept for a large, specific interior.

Over the following three months, Rothko completed forty paintings, three full series in dark red and brown. After a foreign trip and a change of heart Rothko refused to continue the project and returned his cash advance to the Seagram and Sons Company.

Rothko kept the commissioned paintings in storage until 1968. In the end, the series of murals came to be referred to by the name of its original client – The Seagram corporation and are still displayed under this name in various exhibitions.

The most famous group of the Seagram Murals is in the permanent collection of the Tate Modern in London. The museum received these paintings in 1969 as a gift from Mark Rothko, and displayed them in the exact sequence envisioned by the artist.

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