Figures on a Beach

1928

First group show at the Opportunity Gallery

In 1928 Rothko and a group of young artists showed their work for the first time at the Opportunity Gallery: dark, moody expressionist interiors and urban scenes that critics and fellow artists received well.

1929–1952

Teaching children at the Brooklyn Jewish Center

From 1929 Rothko taught drawing, painting and clay sculpture part-time to schoolchildren at the Center Academy of the Brooklyn Jewish Center, where he remained until 1952.

early 1930s

Milton Avery and Adolph Gottlieb

In the early 1930s Rothko met Adolph Gottlieb and the circle around Milton Avery, including Barnett Newman, Joseph Solman, Louis Schanker and John Graham. According to Elaine de Kooning it was Avery who convinced Rothko that a professional artist’s life was possible; the friends vacationed together at Lake George and Gloucester, painting by day and talking about art in the evenings.

1932

Edith Sachar: meeting and marriage

At Lake George in 1932 Rothko met the jewelry designer Edith Sachar, whom he married later that year.