Four Darks in Red

Medium: oil on canvas.
Location: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA.

Four unequal-sized rectangles are located one above the other on the canvas. This composition is characteristic of the works of Mark Rothko of the times starting from 50s, when he first created his unusual and fascinating “multi-forms”. The blurred background and indistinct borders of these forms create the feeling that they float on the surface of the canvas, slowly moving one way or the other. This optical illusion is achieved due to the use of paints that have different consistency, which the master carefully selected for each composition. Looking at the painting, it is difficult to say, what meaning the author put into it; however, the works of Abstract Expressionism do not imply the existence of it, suggesting that the viewer rely only on his subjective feelings and emotions.