{"id":10950,"date":"2019-02-27T06:15:49","date_gmt":"2019-02-27T05:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/?p=10950"},"modified":"2023-06-07T12:40:07","modified_gmt":"2023-06-07T11:40:07","slug":"mark-rothko","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/khm\/mark-rothko\/","title":{"rendered":"Mark Rothko exhibition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\" src=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/khm_small.jpg\" alt=\"Front of Kunsthistorisches Museum\" class=\"wp-image-9016\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/khm_small.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/khm_small-100x100.jpg 100w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 150px) 100vw, 150px\" \/><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p>After the incredible success of the 2018\/2019 Bruegel exhibition, the Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM) comes up with another premiere: this is the first-ever exhibition of Mark Rothko&#8217;s works in Austria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Presents 40+ works from across four decades of Rothko&#8217;s life<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Runs March 12 to June 30, 2019<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>See also:\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/khm\/overview\/\">Kunsthistorisches Museum overview<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Current <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/entertainment\/events\/exhibitions\/#modernart\">modern art exhibitions<\/a> in Vienna<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"what-s-it-all-about\">What&#8217;s it all about?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>At first glance, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna seems an unlikely setting for a more contemporary artist like Mark Rothko (1903 &#8211; 1970). After all, it&#8217;s largely famous for its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/khm\/greek-roman-antiquities\/\">antiquities<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/museums\/khm\/paintings\/\">old masters<\/a>. But that&#8217;s precisely why the exhibition makes sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rothko drew much inspiration from the same art and artists that form the core of the museum&#8217;s collections. His contemporary approaches, however innovative or abstract, developed within an understanding of what came before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He had, for example, a strong interest in mythology. In 1943, he noted:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>If our titles recall the known myths of antiquity, we have used them again because they are the eternal symbols upon which we must fall back to express basic psychological ideas.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Rothko also travelled extensively in Europe, visiting such cities as Paris, Venice, Rome and Florence to immerse himself in the works and techniques of the past. Michelangelo\u2019s Laurentian library left a lasting impression, for example, as did Fra Angelico&#8217;s frescoes at San Marco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The exhibition includes over 40 works, many loaned from the Rothko family itself and such prestigious institutions as the National Gallery of Art in Washington.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The paintings reveal Rothko&#8217;s artistic development from the 1930s through to the last decade of his life. By drawing a clear connection between his influences and interests and his creative output, they honour the painter&#8217;s own philosophy:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>Since I have a deep sense of responsibility for the life my pictures will lead out in the world, I will with gratitude accept any form of their exposition in which their life and meaning can be maintained <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>This anchoring of the exhibition in the creative context of the artwork presented is seen, for example, in figurative works drawing on classical mythology and religious iconography. A gallery of Rothko&#8217;s later classic paintings reveals how he incorporated the techniques of Italian and Dutch masters in his art.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The exhibition also features the Seagram Mural Studies, originally commissioned for the upscale Four Seasons restaurant in New York (Rothko withdrew from the contract). He famously said of the murals:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>I hope to paint something that will ruin the appetite of every son of a bitch who ever eats in that room.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Having seen them, I wouldn&#8217;t say the murals would have ruined appetites. But they certainly wouldn&#8217;t have encouraged them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"dates-and-tickets\">Dates, tickets &amp; tips<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Rothko exhibition runs from Tuesday March 12 to Sunday, June 30, 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Access the exhibition with a normal entrance ticket to the Kunsthistorisches Museum or using, for example, a Vienna Pass (see <a href=\"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/sights\/vienna-pass-review\/\">my review<\/a>).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"how-to-get-to-the-rothko-exhibition\">How to get to the Rothko exhibition<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>The Kunsthistorisches Museum is easily reached alongside the giant Ring boulevard that encircles the city centre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Subway: Take the U2 or U3 line to the Volkstheater station<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tram: Take lines D, 71, 46, 49 or 2 to Ring\/Volkstheater<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bus: Line 48A to Ring\/Volkstheater<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Address: Burgring 7, 1010 Vienna<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div align=\"center\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/maps\/d\/u\/0\/embed?mid=1Ls0bHnAFYwdqHpA-vPBaMhgV1Fw\" width=\"400\" height=\"300\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>After the incredible success of the 2018\/2019 Bruegel exhibition, the Kunsthistorisches Museum (KHM) comes up with another premiere: this is the first-ever exhibition of Mark Rothko&#8217;s works in Austria. What&#8217;s it all about? At first glance, the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna seems an unlikely setting for a more contemporary artist like Mark Rothko (1903 &#8211; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9016,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-10950","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-khm","8":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10950","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10950"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10950\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60944,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10950\/revisions\/60944"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10950"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10950"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.visitingvienna.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10950"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}