Mark Rothko
Pace | 32 East 57th Street
The story is almost too neat: Mark Rothko states that his paintings are about death, above all, and as he nears the end of his life, cut short in 1970 by his own hand, his palette grows darker and darker. Though part of his powerful narrative, this was not the only factor affecting his choice of color. For one thing, as demonstrated by the recent impressive show up at Paceexpertly lit and designed, with a border on the floor unobtrusively guarding our distancedarkness infused Rothko’s mature canvases from the 1950s on, even if just as ground to push forward his brightest compositions.