Untitled (head)

21 February 1938

Becomes a US citizen

On 21 February 1938 Rothko received American citizenship, relieved: he had feared that the growing influence of the Nazis in Europe might lead to the sudden deportation of Jews without citizenship.

1940

Shortens his name to Mark Rothko

Concerned about rising antisemitism in Europe and America, Rothko shortened “Markus Rothkowitz” to “Mark Rothko” in 1940; “Roth” still sounded identifiably Jewish, so he settled on “Rothko”. All his works have been signed with that name since.

1940

A pause in painting for the study of myth

In 1940, it is said, Rothko stopped painting altogether to immerse himself in James Frazer’s The Golden Bough and Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams; he later said his approach had been “reformed” by the study of the dramatic themes of myth.

1942

The Rothko–Gottlieb manifesto after the Macy’s show

New paintings were shown at a 1942 exhibition at Macy’s department store; answering a negative review in The New York Times, Rothko and Gottlieb issued a manifesto written mainly by Rothko, declaring themselves for the simple expression of the complex thought, for the large shape and for flat forms that destroy illusion and reveal truth.

1943

Berkeley: friendship with Clyfford Still

Hoping a change of scenery would help, Rothko returned to Portland and then travelled to Berkeley, where he met Clyfford Still and the two became close friends; Still’s deeply abstract paintings are thought to have influenced Rothko’s later work.

13 June 1943

Separation from Edith Sachar and depression

On 13 June 1943 Rothko and Edith Sachar separated again, and the divorce (1944) left him depressed for a long time.