MADRID, SPAIN.- The Reina Sofía Museum will present today the Mark Rothko art work “Untitled (Orange, plum, yellow)”, from 1950. The work was acquired by Caja Madrid and given to the Spanish state in lieu of taxes. The transaction took place in April, but today the Rothko work will be presented at the museum by the Minister of Culture, Pilar del Castillo, the chairman of the board of the museum, Juan Manuel Urgoiti, the director of the museum, Juan Manuel Bonet, and the director of the Fundación Caja Madrid, Rafael Spottorno.

The Rothko work was acquired by Caja Madrid from the Marlborough Gallery in New York for 3,350,000 euros. The work measures 176.9 cm by 101.6 cm. The work had been acquired by the gallery from the artist himself in 1969 and has been exhibited in Great Britain and Mexico. 

Rothko’s achievement has had a decisive impact on the course of 20th-century art and has given rise to a wealth of critical interpretation. A central figure in the development of postwar abstract painting in the United States, Rothko is best known for his use of luminous color in his paintings from around 1950 onward. These are considered among the most original landmarks of the New York School.  

Rothko, who committed suicide at age 66, was born Marcus Rothkowitz in Dvinsk, Russia (today, Daugavpils, Latvia), and immigrated to the United States at age ten. After two years of liberal arts study at Yale University, he moved to New York, where he took classes briefly at the Art Students League and began to paint. In many respects he considered himself a self-taught artist, although his early style was influenced by other painters such as Milton Avery, whom he knew well.