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Lot Essay
Mark Rothko's Heads (1941-1942) stands as a rare and captivating example from a pivotal moment in the artist's career, when he was forging a path between figuration and abstraction, myth and psychology. This work belongs to a small and historically significant series from the early 1940s in which Rothko depicted heads in a mythological or religious narrative—an essential bridge between his early figurative practice and the revolutionary abstract idiom that would later define his career. Rare to market, Heads remained in the esteemed personal collection of the artist’s first wife, Edith Sachar, until her death. The painting is one of few select works from this important body of work to remain in private hands, with almost all of other examples housed in the permanent collection of National Gallery in Washington, D.C. Rothko’s work from this time of intense experimentation and philosophical inquiry, sprung from the upheaval of World War II, would ultimately lead him to the luminous fields of color that define his mature work. Through a compelling blend of surrealist influence, mythological reference and emotional depth, Heads provides a profound insight into Rothko's evolving aesthetic and ideological concerns.
Domineering the composition is a humanoid form comprised of an amalgam of prominent features—eyes, noses, lips—painted in the style of an ancient Greek or Roman deity. These attributes coalesce and melt into one another on one muted green face. The creature rests atop a chevron platform that recalls a ritualistic altar or a Surrealist stage. Beneath this elevated presentation lies a bundle of contorted limbs—hands, legs and feet—an echo of Philip Guston’s figurative work which suggests both a physical and symbolic dismemberment. Gazing beyond the right edge of the canvas is a bearded figure of marble, spectral, and gesturing upward, evoking the grandeur of Greco-Roman statuary and guiding the eye beyond the confines of the canvas.
The composition of the present work reveals Rothko's burgeoning interest in spatial structure and color dynamics. While still engaged with the figure, he organizes the composition with a striking geometric logic. The picture plane is broken into discrete bands of space, foreshadowing the structural clarity of his later abstract works. Large passages of washy, atmospheric color define the background, replacing traditional linework and anchoring the surreal forms in an emotional and spatial field. Even at this early stage, Rothko demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of how color and spatial arrangement can evoke psychological and emotional depth.
As explained by David Anfam, the iconography of the early 1940s was cultivated by Leonardo’s Last Supper, “From Leonardo come the tiered layout, the frieze of multi-directional heads, the play of body language against shadows and the box-like architectural settings of the early 1940s: again, the drama occurs in a room” (D. Anfam, Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas: Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1998, p. 51). By the time Rothko painted Heads, he had become increasingly persuaded of the indispensable role of myth in revitalizing a spiritually diminished society, that he found in the Old Masters. These innovations would soon crystallize into the Multiforms of the mid-1940s and eventually, his iconic Color Field paintings.
At once haunting and majestic, Heads exemplifies Rothko’s deepening engagement with mythology and the unconscious during this transitionary period. Drawing inspiration from Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy, the writings of Carl Jung and the Greek tragedians, Rothko believed that myth had the capacity to redeem a spiritually depleted modern world. Here, Rothko turns to classical myth as a universal language capable of speaking to what he described as the “tragic and timeless” aspects of the human experience.
The early 1940s, too, marked a dramatic transformation in Rothko’s personal practice. Having emigrated from Russia as a child and arriving in New York at age 20 after dropping out of Yale, he pursued artistic training at the Parsons School of Design and the Art Students League. It was under the mentorship of Max Weber that Rothko began to view painting not merely as craft, but as a legitimate vehicle for modern philosophical and spiritual expression. This shift coincided with his increasing exposure to European Surrealists such as Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst, whose exploration of dreams, the unconscious, and irrationality deeply resonated with him. Alongside close friend, collaborator and mentor Adolph Gottlieb, Rothko embraced a new visual language rooted in myth, ritual and so called ‘primitive’ symbols—eschewing traditional narrative in favor of archetypal imagery and emotionally resonant forms.
Rothko's adoption of biomorphic and totemic forms during this period placed him within a hybrid space between Surrealism, abstraction, and automatism. In the years following this important series, Rothko’s career would be landmarked by the artist’s first major solo exhibition of Surrealist-inspired paintings at Peggy Guggenheim’s ‘Art of This Century’ gallery in 1945—a transformative event that placed Rothko at the forefront of the burgeoning New York School. Heads, along with its companion pieces, is a foundational statement of Rothko's belief in the emotional and spiritual potential of painting.
Domineering the composition is a humanoid form comprised of an amalgam of prominent features—eyes, noses, lips—painted in the style of an ancient Greek or Roman deity. These attributes coalesce and melt into one another on one muted green face. The creature rests atop a chevron platform that recalls a ritualistic altar or a Surrealist stage. Beneath this elevated presentation lies a bundle of contorted limbs—hands, legs and feet—an echo of Philip Guston’s figurative work which suggests both a physical and symbolic dismemberment. Gazing beyond the right edge of the canvas is a bearded figure of marble, spectral, and gesturing upward, evoking the grandeur of Greco-Roman statuary and guiding the eye beyond the confines of the canvas.
The composition of the present work reveals Rothko's burgeoning interest in spatial structure and color dynamics. While still engaged with the figure, he organizes the composition with a striking geometric logic. The picture plane is broken into discrete bands of space, foreshadowing the structural clarity of his later abstract works. Large passages of washy, atmospheric color define the background, replacing traditional linework and anchoring the surreal forms in an emotional and spatial field. Even at this early stage, Rothko demonstrates a sophisticated understanding of how color and spatial arrangement can evoke psychological and emotional depth.
As explained by David Anfam, the iconography of the early 1940s was cultivated by Leonardo’s Last Supper, “From Leonardo come the tiered layout, the frieze of multi-directional heads, the play of body language against shadows and the box-like architectural settings of the early 1940s: again, the drama occurs in a room” (D. Anfam, Mark Rothko: The Works on Canvas: Catalogue Raisonné, New Haven and London, 1998, p. 51). By the time Rothko painted Heads, he had become increasingly persuaded of the indispensable role of myth in revitalizing a spiritually diminished society, that he found in the Old Masters. These innovations would soon crystallize into the Multiforms of the mid-1940s and eventually, his iconic Color Field paintings.
At once haunting and majestic, Heads exemplifies Rothko’s deepening engagement with mythology and the unconscious during this transitionary period. Drawing inspiration from Nietzsche's The Birth of Tragedy, the writings of Carl Jung and the Greek tragedians, Rothko believed that myth had the capacity to redeem a spiritually depleted modern world. Here, Rothko turns to classical myth as a universal language capable of speaking to what he described as the “tragic and timeless” aspects of the human experience.
The early 1940s, too, marked a dramatic transformation in Rothko’s personal practice. Having emigrated from Russia as a child and arriving in New York at age 20 after dropping out of Yale, he pursued artistic training at the Parsons School of Design and the Art Students League. It was under the mentorship of Max Weber that Rothko began to view painting not merely as craft, but as a legitimate vehicle for modern philosophical and spiritual expression. This shift coincided with his increasing exposure to European Surrealists such as Salvador Dalí and Max Ernst, whose exploration of dreams, the unconscious, and irrationality deeply resonated with him. Alongside close friend, collaborator and mentor Adolph Gottlieb, Rothko embraced a new visual language rooted in myth, ritual and so called ‘primitive’ symbols—eschewing traditional narrative in favor of archetypal imagery and emotionally resonant forms.
Rothko's adoption of biomorphic and totemic forms during this period placed him within a hybrid space between Surrealism, abstraction, and automatism. In the years following this important series, Rothko’s career would be landmarked by the artist’s first major solo exhibition of Surrealist-inspired paintings at Peggy Guggenheim’s ‘Art of This Century’ gallery in 1945—a transformative event that placed Rothko at the forefront of the burgeoning New York School. Heads, along with its companion pieces, is a foundational statement of Rothko's belief in the emotional and spiritual potential of painting.