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In 1958, Mark Rothko was commissioned to produce a series of works for a restaurant in New York’s Seagram Building. In 1960, after more than two years of work on the project and with a studio of completed paintings, Rothko withdrew from the commission. He felt the exclusive environment of the restaurant was an inappropriate setting for his artworks. He later presented the series to Tate.

• On display in Mark Rothko, In the Studio, Room 10, Natalie Bell Building Level 2

When the actor Marilyn Monroe died, Warhol was shocked by her death. He found a publicity photo of Monroe from the 1953 film Niagara. Cropping her face, Warhol made a series of graphic screenprints based on the portrait. He painted over some of them by hand, then reprinted Monroe’s face on top of the colour.

• On display in In the Conservation Studio: Andy Warhol, In the Studio, Room 14, Natalie Bell Building Level 2

After 1948, Henri Matisse was confined to bed due to ill health. Though he could no longer paint, he produced many works by cutting or tearing shapes from paper painted in bright colours. An assistant then pasted the cut-outs on a white sheet following his instructions. Matisse got the idea for this composition while drawing a snail. ‘I became aware of an unrolling, I found an image in my mind purified of the shell, then I took the scissors.’

• On display in Painterly Gestures, In the Studio, Room 12, Natalie Bell Building Level 2

Arahmaiani sees her performances as healing rituals that nurture connectivity between individuals, communities and nature.

A commitment to environmental issues runs throughout Arahmaiani’s work. The artist identifies as an ‘ecofeminist’ and often draws links between the plundering of nature for capitalist gains and the exploitation of women’s bodies.

• On display in Arahmaiani, Artist and Society, Room 10, Natalie Bell Building Level 2

This painting conveys the bustle of a commercial laundry. The two sides of the work are divided between traditionally male (shirts, collars and cuffs) and female (lace, blouses and aprons) items. This suggests an intimate relationship between two people. The text interspersed within the composition reflects Goncharova’s collaboration with transrational poets on the designs and illustration of artists books. These books brought together images and text with nonlinear styles that produced new, unexpected meanings.

• On display in Monsieur Vénus, Media Networks, Room 2, Natalie Bell Building Level 4

This work, signed with the pseudonym ‘R. Mutt’ in black paint, is an example of what Duchamp called a ‘ready-made’ sculpture. These were everyday mass-produced objects presented as artworks. Duchamp’s use of a pseudonym, the title, and the reorientation of the urinal from its usual upright position, all point to his interest in double meanings, words and role play.

• On display in Around the Fountain, Materials and Objects, Room 7, Natalie Bell Building Level 4

Nalini Malani’s ‘video shadow plays’ combine video, shadow and sound to tell multiple stories. In this work, she creates a tribute to women’s lives forgotten throughout history. Each cylinder is reverse painted and features images of dispossessed people, mythological figures and surgical instruments.

• On display in Nalini Malani, Materials and Objects, Room 5, Natalie Bell Building Level 4

Rasad 2024 is an installation inspired by the architecture of Bangladeshi markets. Constructed from recycled local materials, the work takes the form of a small bazaar with corrugated metal walls, slanted roofs and shutters. Displayed inside each stall are handmade replica foods, crafted from metal, ceramic and fabric. Some of the bowls contain real spices and pulses.

• On display in Britto Arts Trust, Performer and Participant, Room 7, Blavatnik Building Level 3

Babel 2001 is a large-scale sculptural installation that takes the form of a circular tower made from hundreds of second-hand analogue radios that the artist has stacked in layers. The radios are tuned to a multitude of different stations.

In describing this work, Meireles refers to a ‘tower of incomprehension’. The installation manifests, quite literally, a Tower of Babel, relating it to the biblical story of a tower tall enough to reach the heavens, which, offending God, caused him to make the builders speak in different tongues.

• On display in Cildo Meireles, Media Networks, Room 6, Natalie Bell Building Level 4

Presented across three screens, Lungenflügel (Lobe of the Lung) 2009 is an immersive video installation. It depicts a luxurious valley in which the two main characters, a naked woman and a pig, wander. The human and the animal are put on the same plane, each appearing on one of the facing screenings.

• On display in Pipilotti Rist, Performer and Participant, Room 9, Blavatnik Building Level 3