Mark Rothko at the Fondation Louis Vuitton: exhibition review

?? ?? Exhibition Review - Mark Rothko, Fondation Louis Vuitton, 18 October 2023 - 2 April 2024 ?? ??

"If people want sacred experiences they will find them here. If they want profane experiences they'll find them too. I take no sides". Mark Rothko

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Earlier this week, we attended Mark Rothko's exhibition at the Fondation Louis Vuitton(FLV).

This most significant to-date retrospective showcases 115 artworks of the artist displayed in galleries spanning all four floors of the FLV. It is divided chronologically into different 'chapters' of Rothko's artistic career, starting with his early figurative paintings of the 1930s and concluding with works representing 'classic Rothko' monumental abstract expressionist canvases.

For the ideal day of viewing, be well rested and neutrally geared in your mind to absorb fully what the artist had intended and, indeed, to get through the volume of works on display. There is a lot to take in, but the sensory, emotional and spiritual journey you are bound to experience is well worth it.

Those less familiar with the entirety of Rothko's oeuvre might be astonished to see the stylistic variety of his work.

Between the two world wars, Rothko painted mostly figurative pictures, and his creative language was deeply evocative. Paintings of that era give away esoteric, emotive and metaphysical 'feel'.

The works of the early 1940s show us how he adventured with biomorphic neo-surrealist forms and pastel palettes and how deeply mythology influenced him.

The last one on his artistic timeline is the abstract style. Between 1949 and when he died in 1970, Rothko's mission was to move away from evocative language and study ways of expressing ideas as clearly and directly as possible. Thus, he abandoned all figuration and focused solely on simple geometry, colour contrasts and transparency in his large-scale abstract expressionist pictures.

Hopping from floor to floor to interact with his works, you can't help but feel as though the contrasting styles have not been painted by the same hand.? The curatorial talent behind this retrospective is undeniably spot-on in illuminating the complex and diverse work of Mark Rothko.

As you walk around the final galleries and gaze at the gigantic abstract murals, open yourself to feel: let yourself be immersed in the ethereal ocean of colour, light, opacity and depth.? The transcendental qualities of these large paintings are hard to convey in words; they have to be felt.

Rothko was very concerned with the interaction with the observer of his paintings, and therefore, scale played a significant role in his mission to 'absorb' the viewer. He also understood that these abstract paintings might mean nothing in the eyes of an insensitive viewer (those who like to play arbiter elegantiarum or think they could easily knock up these paintings themselves).

?Rothko wished for viewers of his works to be active participants and have a dynamic exchange with what he had put into each painting.

The scale helped achieve this: the imposingly sized canvases will encourage you to have an immediate and intimate transaction with the artwork.

Having suffered from depression on and off throughout his life, it seems as though elemental abstraction helped Rothko channel his ideas about the unavoidable pain of existence. But rest assured, the emotional companionship with these pictures does not feel overwhelming; it feels cathartic.

You can’t help but feel the meditative quality of every one of them, and in fact, they have been compared to large meditative boards by some critics.

Contemplating the gigantic fields of colour, we couldn’t help but be reminded of the Buddhist teachings about dukkha: human existence is inseparable from mental, physical and emotional pain. But as the inner voices of the paintings slowly permeate your soul, and you start seeing beyond the fields of colour, you find comfort and peace.

?It's a definitive blockbuster on the art calendar this year. Unmissable. Utterly exceptional in most unexpected ways.

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