Mark Rothko

Rome, Italy

This retrospective of more than 100 works inaugurated the reopening of the 1883 Palazzo delle Esposizioni in Rome following a five-year restoration project. Mark Rothko was the first significant exhibition of Rothko’s work in Italy since the 1962 retrospective held in Rome’s Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, which originated at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Palazzo delle Esposizioni show and its catalog highlighted affinities between Rothko’s work and the art and culture of Italy, a country he visited three times. A notable feature was the gathering of seven of the ten canvases that were shown as part of the 29th Venice Biennale fifty years before. In addition to these classic canvases, works from all phases of Rothko’s career were included: representational works of the 1930s; mythological, surrealist, and so-called multiform paintings of the 1940s; mural studies; and late works. The artist’s practice on paper was represented in three sketchbooks and thirty individual works. The exhibition was curated by Oliver Wick and traveled to two venues in Germany after closing in Rome.