The American painter Mark Rothko is one of the pioneers of color field painting. Typical of his often majestically large compositions are the brilliant color fields, which seem to float on the canvas. Rothko's creations can now be seen for the first time at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna.

Mark Rothko (1903-1970) is one of the most important artists of the 20th century and an important proponent of Abstract Expressionism, which he significantly influenced. His works are now being shown in Austria for the first time ever. The exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna offers an overview of Rothko's entire oeuvre – from his figurative beginnings in the 1930s to the works he created in the following decade in his so-called transitional phase, to the revolutionary paintings of the 1950s and 1960s.

Harmonious or charged with tension, luminous or dark, dominant or balanced – this is what Rothko's large paintings are known for. The painter is only rarely represented in European collections. All the greater is the gratitude expressed to the artist's children, without whose support this ambitious exhibition would not have been possible. Mark Rothko once said that he was creating an art "that would last at least a thousand years". The exhibition will get to the bottom of this conviction by looking at the artist's work through the prism of history.

Mark Rothko, March 12 - June 30, 2019
www.khm.at