Rothko’s Negative Theology

Mark Rothko said about himself that he is “not a mystic. A prophet perhaps—but I don’t prophesy the woes to come; I just paint the woes already here.” Irrespective of whether Rothko himself is or is not a mystic, this paper argues that the progression of his work echoes the structure of negation that characterizes Neoplatonic Christian mysticism as adumbrated by Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite. This theology, also known as negative theology, allows us to characterize Rothko’s body of work as following the same principles that Pseudo-Dionysius articulates, ultimately ending in an unknowing silence in the face of a God beyond being. I will argue that Rothko’s work mirrors the structure, if not the content, of Dionysius’ theology: indeed, I will suggest that the viewer before a painting of Rothko’s structurally parallels the mystic before God.