Mark Rothko Boxed Notecard Assortment

By the 1950s abstract expressionist Mark Rothko had developed his signature motif: large canvases of luminous rectangles that seem to float within a larger color field. To achieve the sense of light emanating from his paintings, Rothko stained the canvases with multiple thin layers of pigments, some of which show through the top layer of paint. Even the deepest hues seem to emit light.

In reducing forms to simple shapes presented on a grand scale that viewers were meant to experience in close quarters, Rothko sought to elicit deeply felt spiritual and philosophical reactions. He said he wanted to express “basic human emotions—tragedy, ecstasy, doom. . . . The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them.”

Published with The Phillips Collection

20 blank notecards (5 each of 4 designs) with envelopes in a decorative box
Box size: 5.375 x 7.375 x 1.5 in.
Card size: 5 x 7 in.