NARRATOR:

We’re standing in front of Mark Rothko’s No. 14, 1960. This painting is large, almost nine-feet square. It consists of a huge swath of bright orange paint on top, taking up about two thirds of the space, with a rectangle of rich, brooding, dark cobalt blue below. Both of these shapes float on a background of a muddy purple, the shade of eggplant skin.  

The way the artist applies the paint varies. Sometimes he applies it more heavily, which brings each color out in a brighter, more pure way. Sometimes, especially where the colors meet each other, he applies it more thinly, which creates a sense of the color either emerging into view or fading away.