# abstract art in Meet Joe Black

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abstract-art-in-meet-joe-black/253062>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [July 1, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abstract-art-in-meet-joe-black/253062 "2004-07-01T16:05:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Shirt\_Ninja\_13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e19b73/32.png) [@Shirt\_Ninja\_13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirt_Ninja_13)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abstract-art-in-meet-joe-black/253062/1 "2004-07-01T16:05:28Z")

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I recently saw Meet Joe Black for the first time. Brad Pitt and Anthony Hopkins with that girl who’s also in Mallrats and Boys and Girls (can’t remember her name, at the moment). Fun movie. What I was wondering about was this: there are two pieces of abstract art in the movie that seem like companion pieces. They’re hanging in Anthony Hopkins’ character’s house. One is mostly red and has two squares in it, a larger one over a smaller one, both of them sort of deep-red/brownish. The companion piece is done in the same style, only the colors are blues. Does anyone know who might have done this, or what the names of the pieces are?

_bamf_

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**Author:** ![Earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/90db22/32.png) [@Earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earthling)\
**Post date:** [July 1, 2004, 11:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abstract-art-in-meet-joe-black/253062/2 "2004-07-01T23:58:54Z")

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I haven’t seen that movie, but the pieces you’ve described sound very much like [Mark Rothko](http://images.google.com/images?q=mark%20rothko) paintings.

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**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\
**Post date:** [July 2, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abstract-art-in-meet-joe-black/253062/3 "2004-07-02T02:19:19Z")

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Definitely Rothko.

Also, try [art.com](http://http://www.art.com/asp/display_artist-asp/_/ui--BE24A86CCE18433B8E2FB48D0E8D7F08/CRID--4/isSearch--Y/searchString--rothko/posters.htm) for an easy place to see thumbnails of the works with the title.

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**Author:** ![phineas1966](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e480ec/32.png) [@phineas1966](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phineas1966)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abstract-art-in-meet-joe-black/253062/4 "2012-10-21T20:43:48Z")

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Just saw the movie and caught one of the paintings which is:

> **[Mark Rothko and his Philosophy of Color](https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/tickets/mark-rothko-and-his-philosophy-of-color)**
>
> Join Klaus Ottmann of the Phillips Collection for an evening investigating Mark Rothko’s oeuvre, specifically with respect to the power of color in his art. Rothko saw color as a gateway to the soul, an element that could connect art, religion, and...

Blue, Orange, Red - 1961

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**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\
**Post date:** [October 21, 2012, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abstract-art-in-meet-joe-black/253062/5 "2012-10-21T20:50:28Z")

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The original question has been answered so I’ll just add that the actress was Claire Forlani.