Critical Analysis of Mark Rothko Chapel

and the paintings

The Rothko Chapel is indeed a modernist object that demonstrates how the simplicity works of
art and space function together to convey a message to the audience. Fourteen black and deep
purple Rothko paintings hang within an octagonal-shaped chapel. These were made large-scale
specifically for an interfaith shrine which is dedicated to human rights and spiritualty.

The way humans view and feel space is influenced by how spatial cognition stimulates emotion,
sets parameters, and establishes boundaries. Every painting has hues of maroon, dark purple and
black in a huge scale area unit. The darkness of the artist’s works is viewed as melancholic and
forthcoming of artist’s mood during his last years. The work on the chapel was commissioned by
John and Dominique De Menil for University of St. Thomas in Houston. To quote Dominique
De Menil according to her, “The Rothko Chapel is oriented toward the sacred yet it imposes no
traditional environment. It offers a place where common orientation could be found—an
orientation towards God, named or unnamed, an orientation towards the highest aspirations of
Man and the most intimate calls of the conscience.” The environment of the chapel is like a
museum-church and has limited seat arrangements. The setting of the paintings is in a way where
individuals can sit in front of the paintings in solitude and meditate. The dark canvases remind of
the universal search, that the art and the artist are also on a journey and there is immense power
in obscurity.

The perceived sensitivity of Rothko’s paintings were heightened rendering the contrasts between
shape and ground difficult to identify shifting away from the previous decades radiance. The
artist also modified the way his painting’s influences on the audience views on space which is
now defined by the sense of constraint. This characteristic encourages meditation and
contemplation which is clearly linked to the spiritual aspects of the chapel. According to the
Rothko’s interpretation of Nietzsche, a German philosopher in the 19th century suggests that his
work might depict the contradiction between abstract of rational aspect and a tragic or emotional
one. In Western cultures, many aspects like radiance and dichotomy of dark and light have
significant meaning which the artist drew. According to Rothko, viewer’s emotional reactions to
his original paintings were related to the same transcendent experience that he had while he was
painting. The artist mentioned his paintings were “basic human emotions” and the simplicity of
the paintings have known to bring tears of the audiences.

The paintings placement creates a sacrosanct environment within itself. The huge space
impression of the chapel represents the historical concept of a noble, quasi-religious experience
of boundless enormity. The Rothko chapel is an important environment to influence the
reflection of interpersonal aspects and collective healing as well as a safe space for interfaith
meditation and contemplation.