Hierarchical Birds

Name: Hierarchical Birds
Brand: Mark Rothko
Price: 189.0 AUD
Availability: InStock

1944 · oil · Mark Rothko

From $49.00

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See it in a room

Hierarchical Birds by Mark Rothko, shown at 32 × 40 in (81.3 × 101.6 cm) in Arber Natural, living — Shown at 813 × 1016 mm (32 × 40 in) · Framed paper, Arber Natural · Living room

Hierarchical Birds by Mark Rothko, shown at 32 × 40 in (81.3 × 101.6 cm) in Ramino Opaque White, media room — Shown at 813 × 1016 mm (32 × 40 in) · Framed paper, Ramino Opaque White · Media room

Hierarchical Birds by Mark Rothko, shown at 32 × 40 in (81.3 × 101.6 cm) in Ramino Satin Black, hotel guest room — Shown at 813 × 1016 mm (32 × 40 in) · Framed paper, Ramino Satin Black · Hotel guest room

Story

Two bird-like figures emerge from a field of geometric shapes, rendered in soft blue, tan, cream, and pink tones against a background split into sections. The forms feel flattened and stacked, more symbolic than lifelike, as if arranged in layered rows across the canvas. This oil painting, titled Hierarchical Birds, was made in 1944 and belongs to the National Gallery of Art, having come to the museum as a gift from the Mark Rothko Foundation. Mark Rothko (1903–1970) was an American painter associated with abstract expressionism, an identity that shaped his approach to form and color even in this earlier, more figurative phase. One detail worth noticing is how the muted palette unifies the divided background with the birds themselves, so the shapes seem to grow out of the surrounding structure rather than sit upon it, blurring the line between figure and field.