Mark Rothko’s 1958 formula for his artwork:

1.    A preoccupation with death, of ones’ own mortality … tragic art, romantic art, etc.
2.    Sensuality, our basis of being concrete about the world, a lustful relationship to things that exist
3.    Tension, either conflict or curbed desire
4.    Irony, self-effacement and examination by which one for an instant can go on to something else
5.    Wit and play … for the human element
6.    The ephemeral and chance … also for the human element
7.    Hope, 10% to make the tragic concept more endurable

“I measure these ingredients very carefully when I paint a picture. It is always the form that follows these elements and the picture results from the proportions of these elements.”

Rothko recommended viewing his art up close, about a foot and a half away from the canvas, in order to transcend the individual and experience a sense of the unknown, of intimacy and awe.

Interestingly, Rothko mused that he was actually not an abstract expressionist after all as that inaccurately labeled him a colorist.  Inspired by mythology and philosophy, as well as the modern world, he worked to emphasize the spiritual aspect of his artwork.

His interest was …”only in expressing basic human emotions—tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on. And the fact that a lot of people break down and cry when confronted with my pictures shows that I can communicate those basic human emotions … The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them. And if you, as you say, are moved only by their color relationship, then you miss the point.”

In my own experience of intense emotional reactions when viewing colorful works of nonobjective art, I am processing only the color on a visceral level. Rothko’s paintings are huge as well, compounding the overall effect.  Knowing that reds and oranges are arousing while blues and greens are calming for example, the complementary color combination intensifies the emotional response.  I may feel excited or anxious, and this color effect on the senses is also enhanced by very early and powerful color memories, unconscious and therefore unknown to me which contributes to the sense of awe and spirituality.

If like me you ever chose not to share your art with others, Rothko too was very protective of his artwork, sometimes opting not to sell or even exhibit:

“A picture lives by companionship, expanding and quickening in the eyes of the sensitive observer. It dies by the same token. It is therefore a risky and unfeeling act to send it out into the world. How often it must be permanently impaired by the eyes of the vulgar and the cruelty of the impotent who would extend the affliction universally!”