Mark Rothko and architecture

The Seagram Murals were gifted to the Tate by Rothko in 1969. They were painted in the late 1950’s for Philip Johnson’s Four Seasons restaurant in Mies van der Rohe’s Seagram building. After painting several versions, Rothko had lunch in the restaurant and concluded that anyone paying that kind of money would not be looking at his work. He returned the fee to the developer saying that the paintings should not be used as a backdrop to a commercial space. 

In 1969, just before his death he gave nine of the Seagram paintings to the Tate with strict instructions on how they should be displayed. 

Viewing the paintings at the Tate there is no doubt that they have a spiritual quality, they are hung in a space that feels almost sacred and is certainly contemplative. Rothko had specific rules for hanging and lighting his work, low to the floor and dimly lit. These are not decorative adornments to a space, they are the space, they are meant to be viewed close up so that you become immersed in them. Evidence, if it were needed, of his interest in spatiality and architecture.

The inspiration for the Seagram murals originated in Florence, Rothko visited the Laurentian library and was captured by Michelangelo’s lofty and windowless entrance vestibule, a fine example of his architectural work. It feels like an inside-out building, the elevations are architectural facades rather than interior walls. Blank panels are framed by recessed columns, visually the structure is ambiguous, are the columns supporting the ceiling or are the walls? 

The visual relationship between this space and the Seagram murals is not immediately obvious. However, these dense dark paintings seem to employ columns, portals and framed windows in an almost classical way. Rothko's interest in the classical world extended beyond Florence, he had spent a lot of time in Rome at the Forum, Michelangelo’s Mannerism has similar roots. Rothko said that Michelangelo “achieved just the kind of feeling I’m after – he makes the viewers feel that they are trapped in a room where all the doors and windows are bricked up, so that all they can do is butt their heads forever against the wall”. These paintings replace the walls they are placed upon.

The Strozzi Gallery in Florence currently has an excellent Rothko exhibition that explores his fascination with Florence, he was also captivated by Fra Angelico at San Marco. Once again these decorated cells are almost windowless, the devotional frescoes appear to illuminate the rooms. The frescoes resonate with Rothko’s intention that his paintings are “a place”. 

The Seagram murals would have occupied the entire walls of the private dining room immersing the diners in a cell like space. In other words, he was designing a complete architectural space.

Today, when developers commission art or sculpture for their new projects, it is more often than not a form of decoration. It is rare to see art and architecture integrated to form complete spatial experiences. It is perhaps not surprising that Rothko sought out Roman and Renaissance Italy to develop his practice.