polity united states postwarconcept:era modern

Orange, Red, Yellow

Name: Provenio Provenance Knowledge Graph
License: https://provenio.art/terms

Oil on canvas by Mark Rothko, 1961. One of the largest and most luminous of Rothko's mature Color Field canvases, combining three warm colour zones. Sold at Christie's New York, 8 May 2012, for $86,882,500 — then world record for a post-war work.

Scholarly Significance

Anchor the Rothko market signal node. Orange, Red, Yellow set the post-war auction record in 2012 and represents Rothko's most luminous mature palette.

Notes

·Painted in the same year as Rothko's major MoMA retrospective (January 1961), at the peak of his critical and commercial standing.
·The warm orange-red-yellow palette, in contrast to the darker chapel works of the late 1960s, suggests a period of luminous confidence before Rothko's descent into depression.
·At 236 × 206 cm, the canvas is designed to surround the viewer — consistent with Rothko's stated intention that his paintings provoke an immediate, overwhelming emotional response.