Variations on a Theme

White Center, 1950 by Mark Rothko.

A member of the New York School that emerged in the mid 20th century, Mark Rothko has come to be regarded as one of America's greatest artists. He had his first solo exhibition in 1961.

Shapes of Color

Ocean Park No. 67 by Richard Diebenkorn, SFMoMA

Diebenkorn taught at the California School of Fine Arts in San Francisco where one of his students was Mark Rothko. This is part of the Ocean series which features paintings constructed with large blocks of colors influenced by nature.

Herculaneum - The Redheaded Step Child

Pompeii A.D. 79 by Alfred Elmore, 1878, Yale Center for British Art

An exhibition entitled The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection opened on February 24th and runs through July 7, 2013 at the Cleveland Museum of Art. The exhibition features works inspired by the loss of the cities in 79 AD and their re-discovery in the early 18th century. It includes works by a wise range of artists from Piranesi and his detailed drawings of the site, to Rothko's abstract expressionist take on the murals from the Villa of the Mysteries.

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