Revisiting the Rothko Chapel

More than a half-century after its completion, the Rothko Chapel has become one of the great monuments of modern art as well as a veritable pilgrimage site for spiritual seekers. “I wonder if it is not prophetic”, its founder Dominique de Menil noted in her inaugural address, “that Rothko should have left us with the one message that can be totally accepted by everyone, believers as well as non-believers: the sense of mystery.” This book plumbs this mystery in fresh ways, bringing an international and consummately interdisciplinary roster of scholars and practitioners into conversation and reflection on the legacy of the Rothko Chapel. Beginning with an exploration of the plans for the chapel by the artist’s son, Christopher Rothko, the volume proceeds through an investigation of Rothko’s early writings to a study of the chapel’s interfaith dimensions as well as its place in social justice movements. It concludes with a breathtaking new collection of poems inspired by the chapel’s enduring mysteries.