Untitled, 1949 (with Yellow, Brown and Green)
Untitled with Yellow, Brown and Green was a painting done on canvas in 1947. It was one of the many colours paintings that he created for about a decade. Mark was a lover of colour and intermixed them to create different effects in the mind of the viewer.
In this particular painting, the painter has first painted yellow on the canvas before adding other hues. This is why yellow appears on the edges of each colour. Just below yellow is a thin strip of brownish colour that almost looks like a line. It has an orange glow when contrasted with yellow. Below it is a much thicker strip of dark purple colour that adds to the contrast.
The artist then adds a large block of jungle green paint, which almost looks like the primary colour in the painting. Below it is a much lighter hue of green followed by a lighter tone of yellow. The composition lays with contrast to create dynamic scenes that enhance recognition of each colour. During this time, the artist was experimenting with various colours and blends in his landscape paintings. This is one of the most popular of these large-scale colour paintings.
Style of the Painting
The painter uses an abstractionist style of art in creating this masterpiece. This form of non-objective art does not include any accurate representation of items in the visual reality. Instead, artists make use of textures, colours, shapes, and forms to achieve this effect. This type of art came to be at the start of the 20th century and continued through the 21st century.
This style of painting was a rebellion by artists against the established norms and rules in the earlier types of art. With abstractionism, artists were free to play around with colours as they choose without trying to keep by the rules. The result was truly amazing masterpieces that oozed clarity and uniqueness.
One of the most significant characteristics of this style of painting was contrast and dynamism. Mark has played this characteristic very well by choosing colours that contrast with each other. Besides, he has enhanced dynamism by using straight, unbroken lines between different colours. This makes the image more of a pre-thought set of shades than random colours thrown on the canvas.
Unfortunately, Mark Rothko did not explain the meanings of his images for the fear that he would dilute the viewers’ perceptions. This gave viewers more room to interpret the painting as it occurred to them. For lovers of colours, Untitled with Yellow, Brown and Green mixes energy, loyalty with calmness.