View of Portland – Mark Rothko

Mark Rothko painted this landscape in 1928 probably during a visit here from New York to see his family. Rothko had grown up in Portland, attended Lincoln High, went on to Yale on scholarship, staying for two years. Moving to New York the year after his scholarship ran out, he discovered art and attended the Art Students League. While there, he was influenced by Max Weber who exposed his students to the style of Cezanne. Port has an entire post dedicated to this painting, including close-ups of the brushstrokes in the sky with comparisons to Rothko's later color field paintings that he is most famous for. They talk of the influence from Cezanne.I did find this image of ‘Lake Annecy’ by Paul Cézanne (1896) and was struck by its similarity. We'll see where the rest of the week goes.