At the latest edition of Art Basel in June, Untitled (Yellow, Orange, Yellow, Light Orange) from 1955, a canvas by American painter Mark Rothko (1903-1970), was the most expensive work of the Fair.
From 18 October 2023 to 2 April 2024, the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris is devoting to the acclaimed artist - who rejected the label of Color Field Painter - the first retrospective in France after the exhibition held at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris in 1999.
Featuring 115 works from prestigious international collections such as the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Tate in London, the Phillips Collection, the Museum of Modern Art in New York (MoMA), the Art Institute of Chicago and the artist's family, the exhibition traces the artist's entire career, from his first figurative paintings to the iconic works from 1950s and 1960s.
Suzanne Pagé, Artistic Director of the Fondation Louis Vuitton and curator of the exhibition, explains that the retrospective aims to explore what distinguished Rothko's art: his constant dialogue with the viewer, and his refusal to be seen as an abstract painter.
The event, which opens the same week of the second edition of Paris + par Art Basel hosting 154 premier galleries, promises to be a major attraction, especially for wealthy American collectors, and confirms the role of the French capital - after Brexit - as a developing hub of the European art scene, and of the art market.
Mark Rothko, No. 14, 1960, Oil on canvas, 290, 83 cm x 268,29 cm, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Helen Crocker Russell Fund purchase © 1998 Kate Rothko Prizel & Christopher Rothko – Adagp, Paris, 2023