Mark Rothko Retrospective at Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris

A major retrospective of Mark Rothko (1903–1970) opened at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, running until April 2. Curated by Suzanne Pagé and Christopher Rothko, the exhibition features 115 works spanning the artist's career, from early figurative pieces to the iconic color field paintings. The show includes loans from prestigious institutions such as the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Phillips Collection, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and San Francisco, the Tate Modern in London, and the Munson in Utica. Highlights include the Seagram Murals, originally commissioned for the Four Seasons restaurant in Manhattan, and the Black on Grays from Rothko's final years. The exhibition also pairs Rothko's works with two sculptures by Alberto Giacometti, fulfilling a posthumous wish of the artist. The installation features dim lighting and low-hanging canvases to create an immersive experience. Rothko, a Latvian-born American painter, is known for his abstract expressionist works that he insisted were not abstract but 'live and breathe.' The retrospective traces his evolution from urban scenes of the 1930s, through surrealist and biomorphic phases, to the Multiforms and the mature color field paintings of the 1950s and 1960s. The show also references Rothko's influences, including T.S. Eliot's 'The Waste Land,' Matisse, Fra' Angelico, and the Villa of the Mysteries in Pompeii.