Rothko in A Room

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Yesterday we were in London, and after a frazzling sequence of coach and tube and walking, we found our way to to the Tate, and within the Tate, a room of six paintings by Mark Rothko with a bench in the middle.

Originally commissioned in the 1950s as murals for the Four Seasons restaurant in New York, the canvases took on a solemn feeling that Rothko decided was not well suited to a lively restaurant. He presented them to the Tate gallery instead.

Like bricked up windows of dark textured color, in moods of red, maroon, and black, the paintings force a kind of stillness and contemplation. There's no escape from them; there is only escape into them.

We sat there for a while.