Sea Fantasy

1946

Mark Rothko

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

Disjointed, pale-peach and gray objects, perhaps body parts, float against a muted orange background with a strip of nickel gray at the bottom, suggesting a floor, in this vertical, abstract painting. Most of the objects have rounded edges, some lined with red. What might be a foot and leg from below the knee lies on the ground in the lower right corner. A few gray lines connect some of the objects on the orange background.
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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Gift of The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc.

  • Dimensions

    overall: 111.8 × 91.8 cm (44 × 36 1/8 in.)
    framed: 118.75 × 98.43 × 8.89 cm (46 3/4 × 38 3/4 × 3 1/2 in.)

  • Accession

    1986.43.8

  • Copyright

    Copyright © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

The artist [1903-1970]; his estate; consigned 1970 to (Marlborough Gallery, Inc., New York); transferred 1977 back to the artist's estate;[1] transferred 1979 to The Mark Rothko Foundation, Inc., New York; gift 1986 to NGA.
[1] For a detailed discussion of the transactions surrounding the Rothko estate see Lee Seldes, Legacy of Mark Rothko, New York, 1978.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2012

  • Mark Rothko: The Decisive Decade, 1940-1950, Columbia Museum of Art, South Carolina; Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio; Denver Art Museum; The Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, 2012-2014, no. 26, repro.

Bibliography

1991

  • Grunenberg, Christoph. Mark Rothko. Washington, D.C., 1991: 11, fig. 7.

1992

  • American Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 305, repro.

1998

  • Anfam, David. Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas: Catalogue Raisonné. New Haven and London, 1998: no. 298, repro.

Inscriptions

upper left reverse: Sea M [crossed out] Fantasy / 1946

Wikidata ID

Q20193899

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