“The progression of a painter’s work,” wrote Rothko, “as it travels in time from point to point, will be toward clarity, toward the elimination of all obstacles between the painter and the idea, between the idea and the observer…To achieve this clarity is, inevitably, to be understood.”

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This quote perfectly describes the soon-to-close exhibition of Rothko’s paintings on paper at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC. Included in “Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper” are 100 works curated by Adam Greenhalgh, the lead author of the catalogue raisonné. The exhibit spans two floors of the gallery and to take it all in, it’s best to go through twice: starting at the early works from the 1930s all the way to the late 60s, and then reverse. It’s a dizzying journey, partly because he experimented voraciously all the way until the end, achieving the synthesis and “clarity” he sought. And because the work reaches out and draws you........

© Observer