The suburban setting of this and a closely related watercolor, as well as a graphite drawing (see Related Works on Paper), is similar to that in a painting by Adolph Gottlieb (1903–1974) of Rockport Road in Rockport, Massachusetts (fig. 1). It is possible that Rothko made this watercolor and the related works while he and his wife Edith Sachar (1912–1981) were vacationing in Gloucester, Massachusetts, during the summer of 1934 along with Gottlieb, Milton Avery (1885–1965), and their families.
1. Adolph Gottlieb, Untitled (Rockport Road), c. 1936, oil on Masonite, Adolph and Esther Gottlieb Foundation.