he hung them close to the floor because "that's the way they were painted". but this idea engages us more, particularly with the big ones, because we feel we can step into them. the door is open.
they expand and contract. breathing with us.
In a letter to Clyfford Still, someone he greatly admired, Rothko said, " Any picture that does not provide the environment in which the breath of life can be drawn does not interest me". Stills' abstractions influenced Rothko deeply. the optical flutter and the shattering of artistic assumptions.
Rothko hated labels - denying abstraction and colour-field for emotion. he remained a punk - the story of the 4 Seasons commissions is fantastic. he couldn't stomach the food nor the idea of his pictures being in such a "pretentious" atmosphere - so he returned their money and kept the paintings. 11 years later in 1970, some of those pictures arrived at the Tate in London the same day he opened up his wrists with a razor and bled to death.
