# Anybody here like Rothko art? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 25, 2013, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372 "2013-01-25T21:45:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 7:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/41 "2013-01-26T19:41:23Z")
It’s OK to repeat the same thing over and over and over (and so on) in art? Nice to know!! Guess I should have taken that art history class in college. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/42 "2013-01-26T19:49:23Z")
Apparently so. ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/43 "2013-01-26T19:58:59Z")
Well there are a few where the rectangles are side by side, rather than on top of each other. Maybe those are actually fakes. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 26, 2013, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/44 "2013-01-26T23:06:59Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I don’t think the Beatles would be so popular if they recorded and released Hey Jude 30 different times, with a few small changes to the words for each version. 🙂 How many portraits did Rembrandt do? Maybe doing more than one was pointless. Most artists do many versions of the same basic kind of painting. Personally, although I really love Pollack and some others abstract expressionists, I’ve never particularly been into Rothko. Maybe because I haven’t seen many in person. I wouldn’t, however, question others who like him. Implying that because you personally don’t “get” him or don’t like him that there must be nothing for anyone else to get is ridiculous. ---
**Author:** ![meenie7](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7993a0/32.png) [@meenie7](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meenie7)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/45 "2013-01-27T03:03:25Z")
Rothko paintings only work for me in person, as others have said. In person they are deeply moving to me at an emotional level. I think of it the way I think of licorice – I love black licorice, and most people in the US hate it, but neither of us is wrong, and the licorice manufacturer is not a con man because some people think his product is unappealing. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/46 "2013-01-27T05:00:36Z")
> [@Maserschmidt](#): > > I think pulykamell might have an opinion… we’ve had quite a few threads on this. Yeah. I think his work is beautiful, wonderful, spiritual, ecstatic. Like some others in this thread, I had a ho-hum opinion about it until I saw it in person. In person, they have this otherworldly, ethereal shimmer that makes me feel (and forgive what appears to be overstatement coming from an atheist) like I’m in the presence of the divine. I don’t like to defend art intellectually–I can only speak to how I react to it and perceive it. And that’s what I feel when I see a Rothko. And if you don’t have the same reaction, that’s fine. Art is individual. Different works of art touch us. For whatever reason, Michelangelo, Leonardo DaVinci and Raphael don’t speak to me, but Rothko, Pollock, and Kandinsky do. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/47 "2013-01-27T05:10:23Z")
> [@drewtwo99](#): > > I’m not at all a fan of the school of art that says you have to research the artist and figure out what he or she was going through and whatnot to appreciate their art. I’m very much the same way. Knowing the philosophy and story of the artist can help in appreciation, but the primary reaction, _to me_, is still visceral. ---
**Author:** ![Precambrianmollusc](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/precambrianmollusc/32/63_2.png) [@Precambrianmollusc](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Precambrianmollusc)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 5:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/48 "2013-01-27T05:44:23Z")
> [@The\_Hamster\_King](#): > > Yeah, my wife had a response like that to the Rothko Chapel in Houston. I’d always found it to be sort of a peaceful, meditative space, but my wife walked in, spent about ten seconds looking at the paintings, muttered “My God, it’s all about death!” and fled. It was the most visceral and emotional reaction I’ve ever seen anyone have to a work of art. Fortunately the Cy Twombly gallery was nearby to cheer her up again. I llike his work but had a total opposite experiance in the Rothko Chapel. I honestly don’t know much about where Rothko was comming from or the history behind his pieces , but I do like his big blocks of colour. I went to the Rothko chapel not knowing what was there and assumed that I would see big blocks of colour. I spent 20 minutes in there walking up as close as I could to the pictures and looking at people sat arround on the benches contemplating the pictures and I was honestly thinking that what we were looking at was the backing frames for the pictures that must have beeen out on a tour and the people there were just lost. I had no idea what I was loooking at. So there is some value in knowing something about the art in question prior to viewing, just depends in what you are looking for when you view art, a personal experience, an undersatnding of the thoughts of the artist, or a personal mix of everything inbetween. Cy Twombly is fun as is the Menil collection, has to be a “must do” do for the next Houston dope fest. Or we could all just dress up in single colour suits in a real '80s dayglo mishmash and get together infront of one of the rothko chapple paintings for a quite awesome picture. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/49 "2013-01-27T05:53:11Z")
I don’t know what they are supposed to represent. Maybe they were meant to be test strips for tints? More interesting to me: why would anyone value them at $80 million? I’d like to see what art critics 100 years from now will think of them.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 9:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/50 "2013-01-27T09:08:34Z")
> [@meenie7](#): > > Rothko paintings only work for me in person, as others have said. In person they are deeply moving to me at an emotional level. I think of it the way I think of licorice – I love black licorice, and most people in the US hate it, but neither of us is wrong, and the licorice manufacturer is not a con man because some people think his product is unappealing. Simplistic, but a point well made. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/51 "2013-01-27T12:03:42Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I don’t know what they are supposed to represent. Maybe they were meant to be test strips for tints? > More interesting to me: why would anyone value them at $80 million? I’d like to see what art critics 100 years from now will think of them.😃 I don’t think there’s any danger of Rothko being forgotten or dismissed in 100 years. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/52 "2013-01-27T16:33:53Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I don’t know what they are supposed to represent. Maybe they were meant to be test strips for tints? They’re not representative art, rather obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2013, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/53 "2013-01-27T17:02:54Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > I don’t think the Beatles would be so popular if they recorded and released Hey Jude 30 different times, with a few small changes to the words for each version. 🙂 Hint: don’t get Rammstein’s complete discography, you’d be disappointed. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Hamster\_King](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8edcca/32.png) [@The\_Hamster\_King](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Hamster_King)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/54 "2013-01-28T18:56:47Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > I don’t know what they are supposed to represent. What does Pachelbel’s Canon represent? ---
**Author:** ![Furious\_Marmot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dfb087/32.png) [@Furious\_Marmot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Furious_Marmot)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2013, 8:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/55 "2013-01-28T20:19:13Z")
I like them as much in reproduction as in person at the Phillips. No visceral reaction, it didn’t knock my dick into the dirt, I didn’t touch the infinite, but I thought “that looks nice”. Which is the highest level of emotional art reaction for me. Not my first choice for the living room, but far from the last. They looked better than I’d have thought if someone had described them. So, yeah, I can get why they must be important. The super high price art market, on the other hand is a self-perpetuating infinite bubble, possibly the only one in human history. It will always be with us, as long as one guy has more money than another guy. But it’s a pretty benign passtime for billionaires, much nicer than bankrolling a war or deforesting something for entertainment value. They tend to loan the pieces out to museums, so who cares? It’s not like any of us could afford the stuff, even if the market would only bear a price of a million bucks. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 10:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/56 "2013-01-30T22:51:25Z")
> [@Furious\_Marmot](#): > > I like them as much in reproduction as in person at the Phillips. No visceral reaction, it didn’t knock my dick into the dirt, I didn’t touch the infinite, but I thought “that looks nice”. Which is the highest level of emotional art reaction for me. Not my first choice for the living room, but far from the last. They looked better than I’d have thought if someone had described them. So, yeah, I can get why they must be important. > > The super high price art market, on the other hand is a self-perpetuating infinite bubble, possibly the only one in human history. It will always be with us, as long as one guy has more money than another guy. But it’s a pretty benign passtime for billionaires, much nicer than bankrolling a war or deforesting something for entertainment value. They tend to loan the pieces out to museums, so who cares? It’s not like any of us could afford the stuff, even if the market would only bear a price of a million bucks. I think there is also a bit of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” at work with high end art.Critics seem to defend each other, and an artist like Rothko is popular enough that his pictures can appreciate. Van Gogh was unknown until about the 1920’s-then a bunch of critics decided that he was a genius..the American artist Maxfield Parrish was derided as a commercial artist-now his work is highly regarded. The very abstract nature of Rothko’s work makes it hard to evaluate-I look at them and don’t know what I see (except the colors) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 11:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/57 "2013-01-30T23:22:27Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Van Gogh was unknown until about the 1920’s-then a bunch of critics decided that he was a genius.. This is incorrect. Van Gogh’s fame came very quickly on the heels of his death in 1890 - indeed, it had already been growing during the last years of his life, and likely would have broken much earlier if van Gogh had not been so profoundly mentally ill. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [January 30, 2013, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/58 "2013-01-30T23:41:16Z")
Incidentally, I looked for “Hey Jude” on iTunes, and I count at least four different versions of the song released by the Beatles, and a further six versions released by Paul McCartney. ---
**Author:** ![tim314](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tim314/32/3468_2.png) [@tim314](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tim314)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/59 "2013-01-31T16:13:28Z")
> [@Bijou\_Drains](#): > > Maybe it helps if you are drunk or high Maybe different people like different things, especially with something as subjective as art. This doesn’t mean they’re all bullshitting you. You seem almost angry that someone would like something you don’t like. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372/60 "2013-01-31T21:49:39Z")
> [@tim314](#): > > You seem almost angry that someone would like something you don’t like. It’s a very common, human reaction. You see it often when contemporary art of any kind is involved, especially if it involves pushing boundaries. There are still people who can’t get behind the validity of non-representational art at all. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anybody-here-like-rothko-art/648372.md?page=2)