What's Sizzling in Florence

If in Italy before August 23, you can still make it. At Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi, the glow that must extend over the top of the building comes from the grand exhibition of paintings by Rothko. The mysterious genius of this artist is how he makes color stop time. Each painting becomes a meditative space. Celedon moving into undulating sunflower yellow-gold underlined with flame, and each layer alive with subtle movement among the shades.

Because the exhibit is arranged chronologically, we see the sometimes clumsy early work, much of it influenced by Rothko’s visits to Italy. What a surprise to see his Woman at the Window. I thought it was a nod to Vermeer, but my friend Kate noticed immediately that it is a rough response to Piero della Francesca’s Madonna del Parto, the monumental portrait of the very pregnant Virgin Mary about to give birth. My photo of Rothko’s woman shows him copying the hand gesture over the stomach, the blue dress, and the hat that mimics the disc on the Virgin’s head. There are numerous connections to Italian art at the Strozzi exhibit, and also at two other venues—the Laurentian Library and the Museo di San Marco—that extend your appreciation of Rothko in Italy.

You may know that Mark Rothko was born Markus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz in Latvia in 1903. At age 66, he died by his own hand in 1970, his wife dying six months later. The exhibit is curated by their son Christopher, who was only six years old when his father died. The estate remained in turmoil for years, due to unscrupulous dealers but was finally settled in the family’s favor. What the Florence exhibition brilliantly tracks is the early work, the Italian influences, and the gradual subtraction of the figurative, as he magnifies his reliance on grand scale color studies so powerfully contained and contrasted that they startle you into seeing in a new way.

“A painting is not of an experience; it is an experience.” Rothko

At the end, the dark series of Black and Gray canvases leaves no doubt about their significance: he was nearing the end of his stay on earth. While the photo appears flat, the surface close up is stirring with brushwork and mystery.

Reserve your ticket in advance: Palazzo Strozzi. Since the flow is controlled, there is no sense of being jammed in with others.

Notes: The exhibition catalogue seemed too heavy to lug on the train in the heat. (Will get it later.) In the museum shop, we bought instead Rothko playing cards. When we got home we had fun playing blackjack by the pool, reading aloud about his life and work, talking about the exhibit. At the Strozzi, I also picked up a wonderful book on the uses of blue in art. It has reminded me of an old favorite by William Gass, the meditative and imaginative On Being Blue.