Untitled (mountains and river)

Narrator:

In 1933, Rothko opened his very first solo exhibition where several of the landscape paintings in this room were shown.

Karianne Ommundsen:

"Drawings and watercolors by M. Rothkowitz" was the name of the exhibition. This was before he simplified his name from Markus Rothkowitz to Mark Rothko.

Narrator:

This is Karianne Ommundsen, art historian at the National Museum.

Karianne Ommundsen:

At this time, he worked as an art teacher in a Jewish children’s school, and organized many exhibitions showcasing what the children had made.

For this solo exhibition, he chose to include some of the children’s paintings alongside his own.

Narrator:

He wrote in the school newspaper:

Actor portraying Mark Rothko:

Children have ideas, often good ideas, and they express them so vividly and beautifully that they make us feel what they feel.

Narrator:

The exhibition was in Portland, Oregon, a place that meant a lot to Rothko. After emigrating to the United States from Russia, he spent his teenage years there.

Portland is known for its spectacular surroundings with wonderful views of nature, including forests, rivers, and mountains…

Karianne Ommundsen:

Rothko tried to reproduce this in watercolors on paper. With easy-flowing paint and quick strokes, he captured moments from the journey back to his former home. While some of the paintings show buildings and bridges seen from above, others show forests with trees standing close together.

Narrator:

During the period these landscape paintings were produced, Rothko still worked with figurative associations…

Karianne Ommundsen:

But although the paintings mostly have recognizable motifs and elements from an observed reality, many of them have a strong expressive touch. The paintings show an influence from modern art, but perhaps they also hint at something to come.