“I'm not an abstractionist. I'm not interested in the relationship of color or form or anything else. I'm interested only in expressing basic human emotions: tragedy, ecstasy, doom, and so on.”

1950&#x27;s <br class="br">Source: Conversations with Artists, Selden Rodman, New York Devin-Adair 1957. p. 93.; reprinted as &#x27;Notes from a conversation with Selden Rodman, 1956&#x27;, in Writings on Art: Mark Rothko (2006) ed. Miguel López-Remiro p. 119 books.google http://books.google.de/books?id=ZdYLk3m2TN4C&amp;pg=PA119 <br class="br">Context: I am not an abstractionist... I am not interested in the relationships of color or form or anything else... I&#x27;m interested 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 show that I 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 relationships, then you miss the point!