Mark Rothko: The Dinner | Episode 3

In 1958, Mark Rothko accepted one of the largest commissions of his career: a series of paintings for the Four Seasons restaurant inside New York's newly constructed Seagram Building. He would eventually return the money and keep the paintings. The story has become a modern art legend: an uncompromising painter rejecting an extravagant restaurant and the wealthy diners who would occupy it. But the real story is considerably more interesting. Behind the famous dinner were years of experimentation, friendships, letters, a journey through Europe, Michelangelo's architecture, and ancient Roman paintings at Pompeii. As Rothko worked, something fundamental began to change. He was no longer thinking about paintings individually. He was thinking about what happened when an entire room became a painting. The restaurant never received his murals. But the failed commission helped open the door to something far more consequential. Perhaps Rothko hadn't simply rejected a restaurant. Perhaps he had discovered a room. THE DINNER is Episode 3 of our five-part Mark Rothko documentary series. A Second Room Films production.