Rothko in Paris, Part 2
Rothko's palette seems to have darkened as time went on. The early abstract fields tended to be relatively bright and warm (red, yellow, orange). He chose progressively darker values and hues in later years for some of the fields, and the sizes of the darker fields seemed at the retrospective show to be larger relative to the canvas sizes. Armchair psychologists might speculate about whether these choices reflected his mental condition, but as a matter of art, the later works were deeply subtle and far more complex.
The museum space, by the way, provided some interesting fields of color and luminosity.
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The next photo gives some idea of both the scale of the paintings and the level of interest. Despite the numbers, the crowd was subdued, and there were few discussions. Even the comments were muted. Most visitors had audio guides, and that might have limited discussions. The prevailing mood could be considered somber, notwithstanding the show's popularity and the viewers' evident appreciation of Rothko's brilliance. Ambient light was actually not as "bright" as the photos would suggest, so navigating around clots of people in the dim galleries required some care.
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Below: corner detail; only the frame provides a hard edge; under layers are particularly visible in the yellow field:
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This was probably a never-again viewing opportunity of most of Rothko's work. It was very inspiring to see and thought provoking. These were complex paintings. They deserved much greater study than we were able to give them.
To see more (and larger) images from the Rothko show and additional images of the Louis Vuitton Fondation (Museum), please visit my website Rothko gallery. https://bobeastaughimagery.zenfolio.com/p697865809
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After a lifetime of mainly expressing myself with words, my postings here will mainly rely on images. They will speak for themselves to some extent, but I'll usually add a few comments of explanation. I've taken photographs for decades, since the 1950's, inspired in part by my father's photographic skill. Four years of photo assignments and quality darkroom time eventually gave way to decades of casual and family picture-taking. I re-immersed myself when I left film and turned to digital.