Artist

Mark Rothko (1903–1970) was born in Dvinsk, Russia and immigrated to the United States in 1913. Widely considered one of the most important artists of the twentieth century, he studied painting at Yale University from 1921–23, and in 1969 was awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Fine Arts from the school. Rothko has been the subject of six major surveys and retrospectives: the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1998), which traveled to the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; the Kawamura Memorial Art Museum, Japan, which traveled to three museums in Japan (1995–96); the Tate Gallery, London, which traveled to Museum Ludwig, Cologne (1987–88); the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (1978–79); and two exhibitions at The Museum of Modern Art, New York (1970 and 1961), with the 1961 retrospective travelling to London, Amsterdam, Basel, Rome, and Paris.