Rothko's Seagram Murals: 
A Tumultuous Journey to the Tate
Part III

Mark Rothko, Untitled (Section 2), 1959

With the disillusionment of the Seagram commission in the recent past, Rothko was cautious about finding a new home for his paintings. This is illustrated by the fact that it was not until six years after his 1959 resignation from the project that he thought of donating the works to the Tate: “In October 1965 Rothko began discussions with Norman Reid, director of the Tate Gallery in London, regarding a large gift of his paintings, which was to include the Seagram mural group. Rothko felt that the Tate was the best museum to house a large group of his paintings” (Clearwater and Rothko 46). As the eventual home for a group of his Seagram Mural paintings, the Tate Museum would have appealed to Rothko for a number of reasons—as the Tate had already shown its admiration and approval of Rothko’s work in a number of different ways. In 1959, the Tate purchased Rothko’s Light Red over Black (1957) because Reid “had come to explore the possibility of adding to Rothko’s representation at the Tate” (Breslin 513). The fact that the Tate already had one of his works in their collection would have most certainly pleased Rothko; it was a sign of their past and continuing true interest in his artistic pursuits. Another factor would have been the warm reception and admiration that he found amongst European audiences, in particular the English viewers. Dore Ashton writes,

"The British painters had responded with exceptional fervor to their first exposure to his work in 1956 when the traveling exhibition Modern Art in the U.S.A. was shown in London. On each subsequent occasion when Rothko’s work appeared in London (in The New American Painting at the Tate in 1959, and in his one-man exhibition at the Whitechapel in 1961) enthusiasm mounted. Critics in Britain were generally reverent and often wrote lengthy articles that must have gratified Rothko, who always felt the critics in the United States were short of breath. The adulation of younger painters and their unreserved praise warmed him (182)."

His favorable and continuing reception in London must have made him extremely pleased; it is safe to say that England had endured itself to Rothko through its praise, respect and appreciation. With this in mind, he must have wanted his works to be in a place where he could be sure they would be welcomed and valued.