The sublime in art evokes awe, grandeur, and terror through vast or powerful imagery. Philosophers like Burke and Kant explored its emotional and cognitive effects, contrasting it with beauty and emphasizing human reason's role in comprehending overwhelming experiences.
Rothko's approach to the sublime differed from Romantic and other Abstract Expressionist artists. His large-scale, color-field paintings create immersive experiences, using intense hues and soft edges to evoke emotional responses and spiritual contemplation in viewers.
The Concept of the Sublime
Concept of the sublime
- Aesthetic concept refers to overwhelming sense of awe, grandeur, or terror in the face of something vast or powerful (nature's immensity, the divine)
- Often associated with feelings of insignificance or helplessness
- Edmund Burke's concept of the sublime (1757)
- Focused on emotional and physiological effects
- Emphasized role of terror, obscurity, and power in evoking the sublime
- Contrasted with the beautiful, associated with smallness, smoothness, and delicacy
- Immanuel Kant's concept of the sublime (1790)
- Distinguished between mathematical sublime (immensity of nature) and dynamical sublime (power of nature)
- Argued sublime arises from inability of imagination to comprehend totality of vast or powerful object
- Emphasized role of reason in asserting superiority of human mind over sublime object
Rothko's evocation of sublimity
- Large-scale paintings create immersive experience that overwhelms viewer's visual field
- Expansive size of canvases evokes sense of the vast and infinite (Seagram Murals, Rothko Chapel)
- Use of color contributes to sublime effect
- Intense, saturated colors create emotional impact and sense of depth (Red on Maroon, Orange and Yellow)
- Juxtaposition of contrasting colors creates tension or harmony
- Soft, blurred edges and gradual transitions between color fields
- Creates sense of ambiguity and mystery, evoking obscurity associated with the sublime
- Lack of clear representational content allows viewer to project own emotions and experiences
- Engagement with viewer's subjectivity heightens sense of the sublime as personal, transformative experience
Sublime in Rothko's viewer experience
- Believed art should serve spiritual and emotional purpose, transcending mere decoration or representation
- Sought to create paintings that engulf viewer and evoke sense of the sublime
- Interest in sublime influenced by readings of philosophy and spirituality (Friedrich Nietzsche, concept of "tragic and timeless")
- Paintings designed to be viewed up close, creating intimacy and immersion
- Believed proximity allows viewer to enter meditative, transformative state
- Simplification of form and elimination of representational content intended to remove distractions
- Allows viewer to focus on pure emotional and spiritual impact, facilitating sublime experience
Rothko's sublime vs other artists
- Romantic artists (Caspar David Friedrich, J.M.W. Turner) depicted sublime through dramatic, naturalistic landscapes
- Rothko's abstract approach focused on emotional and spiritual impact of color and form
- Abstract Expressionists (Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning) explored sublime through gestural, spontaneous mark-making
- Rothko's sublime more contemplative and meditative, emphasizing color fields and soft transitions
- Rothko's sublime closely tied to viewer's experience and emotional response
- Sets him apart from highly personal, autobiographical approach of some Abstract Expressionists
- Rothko's sustained engagement with sublime throughout career
- Suggests deeper commitment compared to some Abstract Expressionists who moved away from concept in later works