Mark Rothko Enter a
feeling, not
a gallery.
Choose a mood and the room itself answers — the light cools or warms, the air changes pace, and only the works that carry that feeling step forward from the dark. Everything else recedes into shadow.
Mark Rothko
The Early Life of Mark Rothko Mark Rothko was born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz in 1903. He was born in Dvinsk, Russia, in a place now known as Daugavpils, Latvia. His family lived within the Pale of Settlement, a region marked by political unrest and the constant shadow of pogroms. This atmosphere of instability followed the family when they emigrated to the United States in 1913. After passing through Ellis Island, they settled in P
ortland, Oregon. His father, Jacob, worked as a pharmacist. He was an intellectual man with socialist leanings who fostered a home centered on learning and debate. This environment of deep thought was interrupted by a sudden loss. Shortly after the family arrived in America, Jacob died from colon cancer. This early experience of grief and the struggle of the immigrant experience became a quiet foundation for the man he would become.Ar…