Rothko

Rothko was born in Russia in 1903 and then when he was ten years old his family moved to America. He studied painting at Yale University and then joined a group of young artists who wanted to promote abstract art in the USA.

Rothko greatly admired children’s art, praising the freshness, and emotional realness of their creations. And he knew children’s art well, having worked as an art teacher for over 20 years at the Brooklyn Jewish Center.

Rothko taught that everyone can make art—even those without natural talent or professional training. According to Rothko, art is an essential part of the human experience and children can easily turn their observations and imaginings into art.

Rothko began his career as a realist and moved slowly to more abstract works. Eventually his works became flat panes of color, what he called minimal art. His bold use of color led to the development of color field painting.

Rothko believed his fields of color were ways of showing human emotions. What type of emotion or feelings do each of these paintings convey?

For today’s project we will be creating our own color field painting based on different emotions or feelings.