Collections: Contemporary Art: Subway

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This image is presented as a "thumbnail" because it is protected by copyright. The Brooklyn Museum respects the rights of artists who retain the copyright to their work.

Subway

In the mid-1930s Mark Rothko began a series of works with subjects derived from the urban experience that became known as the Subway series. These paintings reflect the artist's sense of isolation, shared by many at the time, that resulted from the harsh social conditions caused by the Great Depression. Although figurative, these paintings accentuate the geometry underlying the elements of the city's infrastructure and thus prefigure Rothko's later concentration on rectangular shapes of luminous colors in his celebrated abstract paintings.

• Artist: Mark Rothko, American, born Russia, 1903-1970
• Medium: Oil on canvas
• Dates: 1939
• Dimensions: 40 x 30 1/8 in. (101.6 x 76.5 cm)
• Inscriptions: Inscribed lower right recto: "Rothko" Lower left verso (inverted): "Mark Rothko .../2..." Lower strainer (inverted): "Subway.../NYC" Upper strainer: "Rothkowitz"
• Collections: Contemporary Art
• Museum Location: This item is on view in American Identities: A New Look, Modern Life, 5th Floor
• Accession Number: TL1981.344
• Credit Line: Private collection, Brooklyn, New York
• Image: Overall, TL1981.344_SL1.jpg. Brooklyn Museum photograph
Mark Rothko (American, born Russia, 1903-1970). Subway, 1939. Oil on canvas, 40 x 30 1/8 in. (101.6 x 76.5 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Private collection, Brooklyn, New York, TL1981.344 (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, TL1981.344_SL1.jpg)