Abstract Composition

1942

The Rothko–Gottlieb manifesto after the Macy’s show

New paintings were shown at a 1942 exhibition at Macy’s department store; answering a negative review in The New York Times, Rothko and Gottlieb issued a manifesto written mainly by Rothko, declaring themselves for the simple expression of the complex thought, for the large shape and for flat forms that destroy illusion and reveal truth.

1943

Berkeley: friendship with Clyfford Still

Hoping a change of scenery would help, Rothko returned to Portland and then travelled to Berkeley, where he met Clyfford Still and the two became close friends; Still’s deeply abstract paintings are thought to have influenced Rothko’s later work.

autumn 1943

Peggy Guggenheim

In the autumn of 1943 Rothko returned to New York and met the collector and dealer Peggy Guggenheim, who was at first reluctant to take on his work.

13 June 1943

Separation from Edith Sachar and depression

On 13 June 1943 Rothko and Edith Sachar separated again, and the divorce (1944) left him depressed for a long time.

1944–1945

Mell Beistle: meeting and marriage

Rothko met the book illustrator Mary Alice “Mell” Beistle in 1944 and married her in early 1945.

1946

The first Rothko in a museum collection

The Whitney Museum, which included Rothko’s surrealist works in its annual exhibition from 1943 to 1950, acquired Baptismal Scene (1945) in 1946: the first of his works to enter a museum collection, a key milestone in his career.