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  Yale University, Art Students League, Lincoln High School
  Dvinsk, Russia (now Daugavpils, Latvia), Latvia
  Abstract Expressionism and Colorfield Painting
  "A picture lives by companionship, expanding and quickening in the eyes of the sensitive viewer.""Only tragic and timeless subject matter is worthy of painting."
  Mark Rothko was born in Russia and immigrated to the United States with his family in his youth. In the mid-20th century, he belonged to a circle of New York-based artists (also including Willem de Kooning and Jackson Pollock) who became known as the Abstract Expressionists. His signature works, large-scale paintings of luminous colored rectangles, used simplified means to evoke emotional responses. Rothko committed suicide on February 25, 1970.
  In the 1940s, Rothko's artistic subjects and style began to change. Earlier, he had been painting scenes of urban life with a sense of isolation and mystery; after World War II, he turned to timeless themes of death and survival, and to concepts drawn from ancient myths and religions. Rather than depicting the everyday world, he began to paint "biomorphic" forms that suggested otherworldly plants and creatures. He was also influenced by the art and ideas of Surrealists like Max Ernst and Joan Miró.