With the exhibition at Palazzo Strozzi in Florence dedicated to Mark Rothko, the American artist has returned to the center of contemporary discourse. His abstract painting is universally recognized as one of the most intense, lyrical and spiritual expressions of post-World War II American abstractionism; a visual language that is not merely observed but emotionally traversed, often in a deeply individual dimension.
Yet there is one instance where his art has also become a collective experience and shared space. It is the Rothko Chapel, known in Italian as Cappella Rothko: a unique site located in Houston that is not only a nondenominational chapel, but a true total work of art. Commissioned in 1964 by collectors and philanthropists John and Dominique de Menil, the chapel began as a radical project in which art, architecture, and spirituality come together in a single experience.
Its walls house 14 large paintings by Rothko, conceived as an integral part of a meditative space. But Rothko also played a decisive role in defining the architectural environment: the building was conceived as an octagonal volume inscribed in a Greek cross, an essential and symbolic geometry that contributes to a sense of suspension and recollection. The architectural design went through several revisions and saw the involvement of multiple professionals, including Howard Barnstone and Eugene Aubry, with whom Rothko collaborated in later stages. The artist followed the project until the last years of his life, but the building was inaugurated in 1971, a year after his death.
The structure consists of brick on the outside, gray and pink stucco interiors, and a skylight that filters diffuse natural light. Inside, a few movable benches invite pause and contemplation, with no imposition of path or direction. Completing the space is a selection of texts belonging to different religious traditions, underscoring the inclusive and universal nature of the place. It is indeed a place that welcomes all forms of spirituality and anyone who enters it, just like Rothko’s profoundly human art.
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