"What do you see?" intones the incisive voice of Alfred Molina, brilliantly cast as Mark
Rothko, in the beginning of the current play on Broadway, Red. The bio-dra ma, set in the late 1950's, concerns itself with Seagram Murals created by the artist in the late 1950's, a commission he accepted from Philip Johnson for the Four Seasons Hotel. Furthermore, the play underscores the apprentice-master relationship between Rothko and his young studio assistant, played by a talented Eddie Redmayne.
These were the roaring times of Abstract Expressionism, before the art world knew such figures as the Damien Hirsts, Tracy Emins, and Jeff Koons, yet much of the struggle on-stage reflects issues that are no stretch away from our modern world: authenticity versus the
sell-out. The play also articulates beautifully the transformation of art with the zeitgeist --
as Rothko stands in the canon of great artists during the play, his assistant informs him of the
nascent movement of Pop Art --finding expression with such artists as Frank Stella and Andy Warhol.
Red began its run in London, where the Seagram Murals now reside at the Tate Modern. The murals, which Rothko gave to the museum as a gift, arrived on the morning of February 25, 1970—the same morning that Rothko’s dead body was found in his studio. The artist had sliced open his veins to paint one last crimson mural. In many ways, the Seagram Murals show Rothko’s soul sliced open—a fact that Rothko couldn’t hide and couldn’t envision hanging on a restaurant wall.
Seagram Murals, Tate Modern.
