Editing Mark Rothko (section)

===European travels and increasing fame===
Rothko and his wife visited Europe for five months in early 1950.{{sfn|Breslin|1993|p=283}} The last time he had been in Europe was during his childhood in Latvia, at that time part of Russia. Yet he did not return to his homeland, preferring to visit the important painting collections in the major museums of England, France, and Italy. The [[fresco]]es of [[Fra Angelico]] in the monastery of [[San Marco, Florence]], most impressed him. Fra Angelico's spirituality and concentration on light appealed to Rothko's sensibilities, as did the economic adversities the artist faced, which Rothko saw as similar to his own.{{sfn|Breslin|1993|p=285}}

Rothko had one-man shows at the [[Betty Parsons]] Gallery in 1950 and 1951 and at other galleries across the world, including in Japan, São Paulo, and Amsterdam. The 1952 "Fifteen Americans" show curated by [[Dorothy Canning Miller]] at the Museum of Modern Art formally heralded the abstract artists and included works by [[Jackson Pollock]] and [[William Baziotes]].{{sfn|Breslin|1993|p=299}}{{sfn|Ashton|1983|p=130}} It also created a dispute between Rothko and Barnett Newman, after Newman accused Rothko of having attempted to exclude him from the show. Growing success as a group was leading to infighting and claims of supremacy and leadership.{{sfn|Breslin|1993|p=345}} When ''[[Fortune (magazine)|Fortune]]'' magazine named a Rothko painting in 1955 as a good investment,<ref>Anna Chave, Mark Rothko, ''Mark Rothko: Subjects in Abstraction,'' p. 17</ref> Newman and Clyfford Still branded him a sell-out with bourgeois aspirations. Still wrote to Rothko to ask that the paintings he had given him over the years be returned. Rothko was deeply depressed by his former friends' jealousy.{{citation needed|date=September 2021}}

During the 1950 Europe trip, Rothko's wife, Mell, became pregnant. On December 30, when they were back in New York, she gave birth to a daughter, Kathy Lynn, called "Kate" in honor of Rothko's mother, Kate Goldin.{{sfn|Breslin|1993|p=286}}