No. 3, 1953. Mark Rothko. Oil on canvas. The Muriel Kallis Steinberg Newman Collection, Gift of Muriel Kallis Newman, in honor of her great-grandchildren, Claire Coven and Hope Coven, 2006. © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York.
After a long trek through Expressionism and Surrealism, Rothko’s definitive style coalesced in 1950. Using canvases roughly the height and width of a human standing with outstretched arms, he created what he sometimes called “doors” and “windows” in luminous color. “ My pictures are indeed facades” he once said.