Tate St Ives has announced that it will show five of Mark Rothko’s “Seagram Murals” on May 25th, marking the first time that the mural-sized canvases will be displayed at the Museum.
The series of paintings, meant to span 500 to 600 square feet, was originally commissioned for $35,000 in 1958 by the New York City Four Seasons restaurant, located on the ground floor of the Seagram Building. However, after becoming disillusioned with the commercial art world during his travels in Europe, Rothko returned to the United States and withdrew the murals. He opted instead to donate nine of them to the Tate Collection in 1969.
The “Seagram Murals” reflect Rothko’s evolution towards darker, more emotive color palettes, some of the artist’s first experiments away from his signature bright colors. The Tate show will also commemorate the artist’s connection to St Ives, a town he visited in 1959 during his travels in Europe. At this time, Rothko had paused painting these murals. Rothko would eventually make 30 paintings in his “Seagram Murals” series. The show will take place concurrently with Tate St Ives’ summer exhibition, Betriz Milhazes’s “Maresias.”
