Writings on Rothko

This fall, a major retrospective dedicated to Mark Rothko opens at the (opens in a new window) Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris, marking the most significant show of its kind in over 20 years. On view from October 18, 2023 to April 2, 2024, this landmark exhibition offers a comprehensive look at Rothko’s career, spanning his early surrealist works to his triumphant final paintings on paper. Pace has had the honor of representing the Rothko estate since 1978, and, in celebration of the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s presentation, the gallery has assembled a selection of new and existing writings on the artist and his legacy.

Here, you’ll find original quotations about Rothko from contemporary artists in Pace’s program; the transcript from a 1943 conversation between Rothko and fellow artist Adolph Gottlieb, culled from the WNYC Archive Collections; a 1981 piece by the late art historian and curator Robert Rosenblum published on the occasion of Pace’s exhibition Mark Rothko, The Surrealist Years at its West 57th gallery in New York; an essay by Eleanor Nairne, senior curator at the Barbican Centre in London, that was first published in Pace Publishing’s 2021 title Mark Rothko 1968: Clearing Away and touches on the artist’s Seagram murals, which will figure in the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s retrospective; and a chronology of Rothko’s life produced for the same book. As the exhibition continues, we will continue to add to this collection of writings.

The opening of the Fondation Louis Vuitton’s Rothko exhibition coincides with this year’s edition of Paris+ par Art Basel. Explore these lively texts on the artist at the links below and learn more about Pace’s Paris+ par Art Basel presentation, an ode to Rothko featuring contemporary and 20th century artworks, (opens in a new window) here.