Mark Rothko: Painting as Illustrated Nadir of Psyche’s Journey through the Underworld

Mark Rothko, who was greatly influenced by Freud, Jung, and Nietzsche, painted in the wake of the horrors of the Second World War, and his paintings can be thought of as remnants of an underworld journey for both the individual and collective psyche. From Nietzsche’s influence, Rothko’s mature works were characterized by a contemplation of deep depth and stillness. Created by layering thin washes of paint color onto the canvas, these paintings can be thought of as hologlyphs, or images embodying the symbolic union of the opposites, known as the German Liebestod, or “love death,” implicit in the alchemical opus. This “love-death” represents the unconscious desire human beings have to unite with the Divine (an integration of the Apollonian and Dionysian elements of consciousness). Rothko’s paintings contain aspects of both light and dark, while his use of red symbolizes an alchemical rubedo (rebirth). Rothko was influenced by Johannes Itten, who sought to develop a comprehensive aesthetic theory of color that originated in the experience and intuition of the painter, was deeply inspired by Eastern traditions, where light reveals to us the spirit and living soul of the world through colors, which are forces that express the subtle layering of energy that takes shape as matter and form. An exploration of alchemical and mythological theories of color reveals these subtle forces inherent in Rothko’s work.