Simon Schama's Power of Art - Rothko, part 4 of 7

[SmokeTheJeffrey1]

What is the piece called at 6:28?

[JohnnyBoy232]

6:02 who is Turner?

[ugoodHomeBoy]

pseudo-intellectuals

[Paz4441]

does anyone know the name of the painting at 7:09, love it and want a print but just cant find it online anywhere!

[melissainnovascotia]

I don't understand this at all, sorry to admit. I am still struggling to understand how blocks of color can be so mesmerizing... does this host stare at nicely painted walls in houses too? I don't get it!

[srm8ib4]

If you think you can paint like Rothko, you should give it a try. Anyway, Rothko offered a new perspective that was totally original at the time.

[zw0ecool]

LOL 9:39 sorry it just looks so funny......what would aliens think???

[DNoolan]

I just don't get abstract paintings. You say they are the void that we can fill up with our imagination. But you don't need paintings for that - just close your eyes or look at the ceiling or whatever. And anyway, the shapes made by shadows on your ceiling will be ten times more interesting and inspiring than any abstract painting.

[Kapojos]

@DNoolan maybe sometimes, but a good abstract painting shows a surface with shapes and colours that are carefully adjusted to eachother, they are consciously put together in such a way it will move our innerself by seeing them. mathematically and intuitively secure and precise. a shadow has great signifance, but are without a thought. the artist will hack away all the unnecessary parts of those shadows till the essentence is there and will give the surface concentrated emotion and personality

[zw0ecool]

Rothko's paints are so simple anyone can make them....what was so great about them??? anyone??

[Kapojos]

@zw0ecool the right intelligent choices of size, shape, intense colour and the correct blurring of the paintstroke to catch that emotional state. shapes and colours have a relation to eachother, rothko new how to use as less as possible for a great impact. the difficulty is to achieve with such simplicity great results. its not so easy, many people have tried, but the result is never the same quality. its maybe more difficult than to paint a realistic portrait (what many people can do).

[zw0ecool]

@Kapojos i think that's just a bunch of horse shit

[Kapojos]

@zw0ecool yeah with such good arguments as yours and the simplistic way of thinking ofcourse you will never understand anything else than horseshit. guys like you are so dumb, they think ''oh i dont understand it, it looks so easy, it must be horseshit'' you will understand nothing, you only understand your tv and your cock

[zw0ecool]

@Kapojos Well it is horseshit....standing there looking at a square??? It's so stupid. Get me a real painter like Picasso, Rembrandt, Leonardo, Rubin, Caravaggio or Michael Angelo. Not this nut. This guy wasted all his time painting squares. LOL what a loser that's why he offed himself cuz he knew he sucked cock.

[Kapojos]

@zw0ecool Just as stupid as looking at the sky and the clouds? they are also abstract . or also if you look at a clear sky, is that stupid, the sky is always beautiful, though its just emptyness which gives the impression of blue colour. the painters you mention are easy to understand these days and im sure you dont know what is realy good about them, you are just impressed by technical skill and thats the less import item. by the way when you look closely at rembrandt, you will see rothko.

[zw0ecool]

@Kapojos I take it back, I hadn't seen all of Rothkos paintings. I just did a search for them on Google images, and I did in fact notice they do look abstract. There is something mystic about them, something beautiful, something sophisticated about them. His paintings are something I would love to have on my wall, they're so clean and soft in color. I can't however find that big painting where if you watched the video he's painting a big giant grey square...what is that one called?

[bigdog960]

Great series all. Abstract languages are a swindle for sheep.

[maxfenton]

I think Simon Schama totally misses the radiance of the chapel in Houston, which is unfortunate.

[Trund27]

I love art so much

[spactick]

@Trund27 and he loves you..............

[Trund27]

@spactick hee hee :)

[spactick]

@Trund27 :) greetings from San Francisco. Where you at?

[Trund27]

@spactick Nova Scotia Canada!

My folks used to live in San Francisco. Brother was born there

Hi from Canada-land

[spactick]

@Trund27 Nova Scotia? Burrrrrrrrrrrrrr it must be freezing up there, no? How do you people deal with that cold? What do you do during the winters? Just stay inside and smoke fish? ha ha ha

[Trund27]

@spactick Actually there is no snow on the ground right now and the grass is still green!

[hilarion244]

wow

[jessiekoss]

I think Rothko should've written something with his art. You can look at any picture and make it mean anything if you want it to. With the old works, painting and sculptures alike, they had the creativity to convey what they felt and thought without having a narrator tell you their life's stories so you could figure it out.

[flintloveless]

This guy fucking loves art.

[InfinateBioKlaxons00]

inspiring......

[VasilisBotoulas]

@kittykgirl That's very insightful kittykgirl. And not at all racist. I imagine you have studied art history thoroughly to come up with such a viewpoint. If not, shut your trap and go litter some other video with your pathetic comments.

[Nurit9]

only in expressing basic human emotions — tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on. And the fact that a lot of people break down and cry when confronted with my pictures shows that I can communicate those basic human emotions . . . The people who weep before my pictures are having the same religious experience I had when I painted them. And if you, as you say, are moved only by their color relationship, then you miss the point.

[ANDPRY]

Rothko in no way, on any level, can be compared with Rembrandt or Turner.

[mycroftyoulike]

I totally agree.

[hedegaard8]

Absolutely, he was a terrible painter, so all he had was an "original idea" to sell.....

[spactick]

@ANDPRY Oh ya? If Remy or Turner were around today? They'd tell you that Marky is as good as anyone needs to be. Marky did good.

[cosmiclight]

language is limited by so few words in definition, where an artists single brushstroke could change the world

-M 2009

The written word limits life, where visual art provides for life

-M 2009

[dhype3]

define "complicated"

[naughtycopycat]

How come?

[racsonam]

Simon Schama is so pretentious

[wyglop]

You confuse pretension with erudition; a common mistake made by those possessing the former while lacking the latter.

[racsonam]

yeah well your a big gay head poo face.

[wyglop]

dammit. you win.

[Trund27]

@wyglop Nice!!!!!!! Awesome comment

[fenetremagique]

i cant remember the peices but the only time i saw rothko, i walked into this dark hexagonal room, with dimmed lights and these massive, monolithic paintings that yawned wide into my soul and i was totally alone. powerful shit, you cannot judge this art until you behold it in person

[TheQubez]

I recommend going to the Rothko room at the Tate Modern if you can. There is something claustrophobic yet liberating about the room, as though all your nightmares appear but you see they are only imaginary.

[acerb45666555]

today is the first time i hear of this Rothko. i must see much more of his work before offering an informed critique.

[seattletaytay]

5:40 is go beautiful. It's like a kind of staining on wood, his passion poured onto canvas.

[specstorm]

your just some username on youtube, your opinion means nothing, hes a good artist, hes a terrible artist, it doesn't matter what you say... so I won't say if I think he is the best ever or not.

[imawarioimagonnawinn]

rothko is the hight of artistic subtlety, and in order to fully appreciate that, you let go of your desire for obvious aesthetics and let urself open up to the emotional force that his work can do to you. believe me staring at those colors and shapes in a quet state, you will se what i mean

[Panadawn]

Unmistakably deep?

It's three horizontal stripes.

Sorry, i just don't see what is great about them.

[heretherenothing]

That's really fine. As hard as he tries to explain this and he does a very good job doing it there's something lost in not actually being there and seeing it real life.

But even so you may still have the same percption and that's fine as well. I myself don't really get hip-hop or pop music and not saying you do. It just doesn't speak to me. And on that perhaps these paintings don't either. But it's nice to know you checked out the clip this far =D

[Indy4fan]

I agree with u! Ugh I have to do a report for general ed requirements. Seriously so many so called artist just do a bunch of lines or shapes and professors and art students obsess for hours over the 'composition' LOL it's a bunch of bs in my opinion.

[uweetnix]

So why are you here ?

[hedegaard8]

Yes, I agree....

[Trund27]

@Indy4fan Art doesn't have to be about a thing you can see in the real world; for Abstract expressionism, it's about the unknown; the void you the viewer fill with your own interpretation. What do you see when you close your eyes? It takes work.

[fromtomevans]

painters aren't better than each other.

each is unique and each strives to pour out a personal vision that isn't confined to common and mundane perceptions of the life we live.

speaking for myself, I couldn't say a diamond was not as good as a sapphire, i would only say that I like sapphires better.

then again, what do I know? I'm just another painter mired in rags and hairy brushes.

[Javeester]

@fromtomevans Than why do people study art?

[Javeester]

@Javeester Why do we study anything? We are human beings, we feed of each other's knowledge. We can only hope that what we do learn from those that we consider to be more capable of expressing themselves through the given medium of art (music, literature, theater, visual, whatever it may be) will help us reach a higher proficiency. Nobody can teach you to have your own unique style, but , again, if you trust your mentor's judgement, they can help open your mind to new ways of abstract thinking.

[rictit]

I think Rothko was a good artist, but not as good as europeans painters during his lifetime.

[uweetnix]

Assuming you have the required intelligence and knowledge to judge, I'm sure many here would be highly entertained to hear about your doubtless impressive credentials.