You may recognize Mark Rothko’s paintings, even if you can’t recall the artist’s name: tall canvases of bold, floating blocks of color. Their titles, such as “No. 13,” “Red on Maroon,” even “Untitled,” are just as abstract as the paintings themselves.
The Fondation Louis Vuitton art museum in Paris will host 115 of Rothko’s works in a blockbuster retrospective that runs through next spring. The exhibition, which fills four floors, proceeds in a somewhat chronological order. Paintings of city scenery from Rothko’s early career lead to his experiments with Surrealism; to the abstract, foggy rectangles he’s known for; and finally to the dark, colorless canvasses that embodied his later work.
“Over and over, in soft-edged blocks layered on filmy backgrounds, he modeled a commitment to abstraction that charged at the hardest questions of life and art through refusal of the easy path,” my colleague Jason Farago, an art critic for The Times, writes in his review of the retrospective.
Rothko preferred to show his paintings in low light, and away from the work of other artists. The show mostly stays true to those wishes, though it gives space in the final gallery to one artist Rothko at least approved of: Alberto Giacometti, whose spindly, bronze sculptures of attenuated human figures appear alongside a set of Rothko’s black-and-gray paintings.
The retrospective is a success, Jason says, though he notes that one can only view so many Rothkos in a day before they start to merge together. “They are spectacular, even if they soon all became broadly similar,” he writes.
And there’s more to appreciate about this show than just the paintings — particularly, the ordeal of getting them all to Paris.
No museum has attempted a Rothko exhibition of this scale since the 1990s, and for good reason: Almost none could afford it. The paintings are not just expensive (one was up for sale for $40 million last month), but also difficult to move because of the fragile materials Rothko used in his paint.
Moving so many Rothkos safely is something perhaps only a billionaire could afford. As it happens, the Louis Vuitton conglomerate’s chief executive, Bernard Arnault, is one of the richest people in the world.
“In organizational terms,” Jason writes, “this show is a milestone.”
If a trip to the Vuitton in Paris is out of reach, there are opportunities to see Rothko’s work in the United States. The National Gallery of Art in Washington is holding an exhibition of Rothko’s paintings on paper starting November 19. The Phillips Collection, also in Washington, is hosting an installation through the end of March. The Museum of Modern Art in New York has its own Rothko collection. And in Houston there is a permanent installation in a nondenominational church, aptly called The Rothko Chapel.
THE WEEK IN CULTURE
LeVar Burton helped a generation discover books with “Reading Rainbow.” Now he’s engaging young audiences again with “Sound Detectives,” a comic mystery podcast that teaches the art of listening.
Heidi Klum drew a star-studded crowd to her annual Halloween gala in New York City. See photos of the costumes.
Having grown up with Chandler on “Friends” makes it harder to say goodbye to Matthew Perry, our TV critic James Poniewozik writes.
Irish Repertory Theater’s survey of Brian Friel’s work prompted a reporter to seek out the town that inspired Ballybeg, the mythical setting of many of Friel’s plays.
In a solo show at Gagosian Beverly Hills, paintings by Ewa Juszkiewicz depict well-dressed women whose faces are concealed by textiles and wild hairdos.
How did bronze statues from an ancient Roman shrine end up in museums around the world? They were looted by local farmers, a village admits.
A foundation working on a museum to mark the Pulse nightclub shooting said the cost of building it had become prohibitive.
DoorDash customers who don’t tip delivery drivers may have to wait longer for their food orders, CBS News reports.
A legal battle between Robert De Niro and his former executive assistant went to trial this week.
Now in its 10th year, “Penn & Teller: Fool Us” has become a showcase for magicians. It’s the rare competition show where kindness rules.
Mint, one of the first budgeting apps, is shutting down.
THE LATEST NEWS
Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, appeared to reject the Biden administration’s calls to pause the fighting in Gaza. He said any cease-fire would depend on Hamas’s freeing of Israeli hostages.
An Israeli airstrike hit near a Gaza City hospital on Friday. A hospital official said the strike killed 13 people; Israel said it killed “a number of Hamas terrorist operatives.”
The leader of the Lebanese militia Hezbollah stopped short of calling for a wider war with Israel.
More than 130 people died and hundreds more were injured after a strong earthquake shook western Nepal late Friday. Officials said the death toll was likely to rise.
An appeals court temporarily lifted the gag order on Donald Trump in his federal election case.
President Biden mourned the victims of last week’s mass shooting in Lewiston, Maine, and urged “reasonable, responsible measures to protect our children, our families, our communities.”
CULTURE CALENDAR
???? “The Vulnerables” (Tuesday): This is a novel that reads like a Covid diary, but wait, don’t click away just yet! It’s by Sigrid Nunez, who won a National Book Award for “The Friend,” and like that book, “The Vulnerables” is a fast, absorbing read that will leave you with more to think about than you expected going in. As our book critic Dwight Garner puts it in his review, “Being told about life, by a perceptive writer, can be as good as, if not better than, being told a story.”
???? “The Holdovers” (Friday): Alexander Payne directs this dramatic comedy about the students and staff stuck at a 1970s-era New England boarding school over Christmas break. Paul Giamatti, who starred in Payne’s West Coast dramedy “Sideways,” plays a cranky, mephitic teacher charged with looking after the left-behind boys, while Da’Vine Joy Randolph (who plays one of the redeeming parts in “The Idol”) delivers a complex, poignant performance as a cook quietly mourning the loss of her son in Vietnam.
RECIPE OF THE WEEK
No-Knead Bread
When Mark Bittman published Jim Lahey’s recipe for no-knead bread in 2006, it swiftly became one of the most popular recipes The New York Times had ever run. All you need is some bread flour, yeast, salt — and a trusty Dutch oven in which to bake your dough. True to its name, there’s no arduous kneading required, though you do need to let the dough rise for at least 14 hours (and preferably up to 24), so planning ahead is crucial. But it’s worth it for a loaf this good, bragging rights assured.
REAL ESTATE
The youngest senior: A New Jerseyan in her 50s is enjoying early retirement in a community with an average age of 79.
Doing it in style: Netflix’s “Selling Sunset” is ostensibly about real estate, but many viewers watch it just for the fashion.
What you get for $1 million: An 1824 townhouse in New Castle, Del.; a three-bedroom Tudor Revival house in Boise, Idaho; and a Colonial Revival house in Swansboro, N.C.
The hunt: When rental prices sagged in the Bay Area, two empty nesters searched for the ideal two-bedroom apartment. Which did they choose? Play our game.
LIVING
Bedazzled: Kim Kardashian’s shapewear brand Skims seems to be collaborating with everyone these days, including the N.B.A. and Swarovski.
Unhitched: After a divorce that ended 15 years of marriage, a couple has developed a love akin to that of a brother and sister.
Endurance training: You can prepare your body before pregnancy the same way you might train for an athletic event. Here’s how.
School’s out: Traveling during the off-season means fewer crowds and reduced airfares, but can families with school-age children take advantage?
ADVICE FROM WIRECUTTER
An alternative to air mattresses
If overnight guests are headed your way for the holidays, folding mattresses are surprisingly comfortable. And while they’re more difficult to store than something inflatable, they can be sort of chic. I own two twin-size ones, perfect for pushing together and making a bed on the floor that’s as wide as king size. When just one guest is visiting, I stack the mattresses on a folding twin frame to create one 8-inch-thick mattress. When I cover them with sheets, they look like a normal mattress, which makes our guest space (a.k.a. my office) look far more polished than it would with a blowup one. — Christine Cyr Clisset
For expert advice, independent reviews and deals, sign up for Wirecutter’s daily newsletter, The Recommendation.
GAME OF THE WEEKEND
NASCAR Cup Series Championship: NASCAR’s playoff rules are convoluted, but here’s all you need to know: In this race, the last of the season, four drivers will compete for the championship. Whoever finishes first among them wins. There will be 32 other cars in the race — a mostly empty racetrack would be boring — which means that drivers who have no shot at winning could still change the outcome. As one racing expert explained to The Athletic, “It would be like Patrick Mahomes getting tackled in the Super Bowl by a Houston Texans player who didn’t even make the playoffs.” 3 p.m. Eastern tomorrow on NBC.
NOW TIME TO PLAY
Here is today’s Spelling Bee. Yesterday’s pangram was juvenile.
See the hardest Spelling Bee words from this week.
Take the news quiz to see how well you followed this week’s headlines.
And here are today’s Mini Crossword, Wordle, Sudoku and Connections.
An update to yesterday’s newsletter: CNN has published an article that withdraws its original analysis of videos related to the Gaza hospital explosion on Oct. 17. CNN’s new analysis agrees with the findings by The New York Times and The Washington Post.
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