Orange and Tan

1954

Mark Rothko

Painter, American, born Russia (now Latvia), 1903 - 1970

A tangerine-colored rectangle and a butter yellow rectangle float against a golden yellow field in this abstract, vertical painting. At the top, the tangerine rectangle extends nearly the width of the painting and goes from near the top edge to just short of halfway down the painting. Below it, a larger rectangle in glowing yellow tones anchors the bottom three-fifths of the painting. The yellow of the bottom rectangle varies from sunshine yellow to tan. The warm, ochre-colored background is painted in a flat, uniform way, and it creates a border around and between the rectangles. The brushstrokes within the rectangles have soft, indistinct edges, with a blurred effect. The tangerine-colored rectangle is formed with upward vertical strokes made with a wide brush that are denser at the bottom and end in a wispy edge at the top. The bottom yellow rectangle has varied brushwork that forms soft, and indistinct cloud-like shapes within the geometric form. At the bottom right edge of the upper, tangerine rectangle, a hint of a vertical, blue-green stroke of paint emerges from beneath the ochre background. Around the edges of the lower, yellow rectangle are subtle hints of tangerine and sometimes blue-green bleeding from around all four edges.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    pigmented hide glue and oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of Enid A. Haupt

  • Dimensions

    overall: 206.4 x 160.6 cm (81 1/4 x 63 1/4 in.)

  • Accession

    1977.47.13

  • Copyright

    Copyright © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(Sidney Janis Gallery, New York); sold 18 November 1959 to Mr. and Mrs. Ira Haupt, New York; by inheritance 1963 to Enid Annenberg [Mrs. Ira] Haupt, New York; gift 1977 to NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1997

  • Founders and Heirs of the New York School, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo; The Miyagi Museum of Art, Sendai; The Museum of Modern Art, Ibaraki, 1997, no. 7, repro.

2000

  • Mark Rothko, 'A consummated experience between picture and onlooker', Fundació Joan Miró, Barcelona; Fondation Beyeler, Basel, 2000-2001, no. 25, repro.

2005

  • Pollock to Pop: America's Brush with Dalí, Salvador Dalí Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida, 2005-2006, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2009

  • Ils on regardé Matisse, Musée Matisse, Le Cateau-Cambrésis, 2009, no. 12, repro.

2014

  • Mark Rothko: Works from the Collection of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, Gemeentemuseum Den Haag, The Hague; Hangaram Art Museum, Seoul Arts Center, South Korea, 2014-2015, unnumbered catalogue, repro.

2015

  • Mark Rothko: A Retrospective, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2015-2016, no. 31, repro.

Bibliography

1980

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1980: 216, repro.

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1980: 19, no. 62, color repro.

1981

  • Williams, William James. A Heritage of American Paintings from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1981: color repro. 8, 247.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 616, no. 953, color repro.

1988

  • Wilmerding, John. American Masterpieces from the National Gallery of Art. Rev. ed. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1988: 190, no. 72, color repro.

1991

  • Grunenberg, Christoph. Mark Rothko. Washington, D.C., 1991: 14-16, fig. 13.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 318, repro.

1994

  • Craven, Wayne. American Art: History and Culture. New York, 1994: 560-561, color fig. 36.18.

1997

  • Richler, Martha. National Gallery of Art, Washington: A World of Art. London, 1997: 197, color fig. 12.

1998

  • Anfam, David. Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas: Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven and London, 1998: no. 501, repro.

Inscriptions

upper right reverse: MARK ROTHKO / 1954

Wikidata ID

Q20194731

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