1945, Mark Rothko, Untitled [watercolor and ink] -- National Gallery of Art (Washington)

From the museum label: Rothko populated the aquatic environments of his 1940s watercolors with forms that resemble microorganisms or machine components (flywheels, axles, propellers, and the like). Here they spin with an energy derived from lively ink lines -- like the fuzzy black tentacles of the central orb -- that Rothko drew with a metal-nib pen into wet watercolor paint.

 

Link to other paintings from the exhibition Mark Rothko: Paintings on Paper.

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