Mark Rothko (1903-1970, born Marcus Rothkowitz in Dvinsk, Russia) is one of the great 20th century American artists. A huge amount of material that has grown up around Rothko. Like Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet and Leonardo da Vinci, Mark Rothko has been lionized by hundreds of art critics. Rothko remains a greatly admired painter. His works will not, it seems, reach the same mass audiences as Monet or van Gogh, perhaps because Rothko is an abstract artist, and very few abstract artists achieve the mega stature of figurative painters such as van Gogh or Monet....

Mark Rothko (1903-1970, born Marcus Rothkowitz in Dvinsk, Russia) is one of the great 20th century American artists. A huge amount of material that has grown up around Rothko. Like Vincent van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Claude Monet and Leonardo da Vinci, Mark Rothko has been lionized by hundreds of art critics. Rothko remains a greatly admired painter. His works will not, it seems, reach the same mass audiences as Monet or van Gogh, perhaps because Rothko is an abstract artist, and very few abstract artists achieve the mega stature of figurative painters such as van Gogh or Monet....