For the first Mark Rothko retrospective in France for nearly 25 years, the Louis Vuitton Foundation has gone all out and brought together an astonishing 115 paintings from the artist, filling every single exhibition room of their vast building.

Presented chronologically, the Rothko retrospective has loans from over thirty museums and foundations (mostly American), including Washington’s National Gallery of Art and Phillips Collection, the Tate in London, and numerous private collections, including that of the artist’s family.

This means that if you are only familiar with Rothko’s abstract work, you’ll be able to discover his early figurative paintings, including scenes from the New York subway, and his progression towards representations of ancient myths and surrealism, before – in 1946 – he started to paint the rectangular forms he is best known for.

It was these paintings that brought Rothko stratospheric success. Following a commission from the Four Seasons restaurant (that he completed but never delivered), he had a room named after him at the Phillips Collection in Washington in 1960, followed by a retrospective at the MoMA the following year.

As time went on, the artist continued to explore different forms and combinations of colour, mostly warm tones. The exhibition however also contains several paintings based on blues, as well as the Black and Grey series that Rothko painted at the very end of his life (1970). These slightly grim-looking paintings are presented in the highest exhibition space in the building, juxtaposed with some of the museum’s Giacometti sculptures.

Related to the exhibition, there are:

— ‘contemplative’ visits, 15-minute micro-visites, and even visits for babies under 18 months old, 😲

— workshops for kids,

— new interviews and videos in the Foundation’s free app (available for iOS and Android),

…and TV station Arte has a new documentary about the artist, available to watch online for free (from 5th November 2023 – 9the February 2024), here.

There’s also an impressively thick catalogue of the exhibition available (316 pages, 220 colour illustrations) for 45€ here at your local amazon.

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The Mark Rothko retrospective is at the Louis Vuitton Fondation (here) until 2nd April 2024

Open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday from 11am-8pm, Fridays from 11am-9pm, and weekends fomr 10am-8pm. Late-night opening the first Friday of each month until 11pm

Admission: 16€ / 10€ / 5€

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Une publication partagée par Fondation Louis Vuitton (@fondationlv)

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