Home ARTnews Artists Mark Rothko's 'Orange, Red, Yellow' 1956. AP Photo/Alastair Grant Mark Rothko’s abstractions, recognizable for their rectangularly shaped floating forms and thin washes of color, have been said by critics and historians to invoke the metaphysical. The Russian-American painter relied on these formal elements to imbue his canvases with grand meaning. He famously remarked his works comprise the basic tenets of human feeling: “tragedy, ecstasy, doom.” The artist is remembered for his disdain for the art establishment as well. Though Rothko rejected associations with the art market’s elite during his lifetime, his paintings have long attracted some of the wealthiest patrons around the globe. In the late 1950s, Rothko produced a series of deep-red murals for the Seagram Building in Manhattan, commissioned by the Bronfman family who owned the historic hotel.…