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Tate Liverpool + RIBA North Exhibition

Mark Rothko: The Seagram Mural Project Free entry

28 May 1988 – 12 February 1989

Mark Rothko, Red on Maroon 1959. Tate. © Kate Rothko Prizel and Christopher Rothko/DACS 2024.

The large dark works which form the core of this exhibition came to Tate from the painter Mark Rothko as a result of lengthy negotiations begun by Sir Norman Reid, then Director of the Gallery, with the artist in 1965. The outcome came in 1970 when the artist gave the Gallery a set of murals which he had completed for a different building ten years previously.

This exhibition seeks to follow the path of these works from conception to final resting place at Tate and, by using records in the form of models, sketches and contemporary accounts, to examine what Rothko's intention was and why he withdrew from the original commission.

Rothko was commissioned to paint a set of murals in 1958 to hang in a room designed by Philip Johnson in the Seagram Building, a skyscraper in New York which officially opened in May of that year. The room finally opened as a restaurant called the Four Seasons in June 1959, without Rothko's work. In April 1960, after more than two years work on the project and a studio of completed work, Rothko cancelled the contract.

Tate Liverpool + RIBA North

Mann Island
Liverpool L3 1BP
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Dates

28 May 1988 – 12 February 1989

Find out more

  • Mark Rothko Red on Maroon Mural, Section 4 1959

    Mark Rothko: The Seagram Murals

    Mark Rothko: The Seagram Murals; past exhibition at Tate Liverpool

  • Exhibition banner for Mark Rothko at Tate Modern

    Rothko

    Rothko at Tate Modern 26 September 2008 – 1 February 2009

  • Artist

    Mark Rothko

    1903–1970
  • Artwork

    Black on Maroon

    Mark Rothko
    1958
    On display at Tate Modern Part of In the Studio
  • Artwork

    Black on Maroon

    Mark Rothko
    1958
    On display at Tate Modern Part of In the Studio
  • Artwork

    Black on Maroon

    Mark Rothko
    1958
    On display at Tate Modern Part of In the Studio
  • Artwork

    Black on Maroon

    Mark Rothko
    1959
    On display at Tate Modern Part of In the Studio
  • Artwork

    Black on Maroon

    Mark Rothko
    1959
    On display at Tate Modern Part of In the Studio
  • Artwork

    Red on Maroon

    Mark Rothko
    1959
    On display at Tate Modern Part of In the Studio
  • Artwork

    Red on Maroon

    Mark Rothko
    1959
    On display at Tate Modern Part of In the Studio
  • Artwork

    Red on Maroon

    Mark Rothko
    1959
    On display at Tate Modern Part of In the Studio
  • Artwork

    Red on Maroon

    Mark Rothko
    1959
    On display at Tate Modern Part of In the Studio
Artwork
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