Editing Mark Rothko (section)

===Inspiration from mythology===
Fearing that modern American painting had reached a conceptual dead end, Rothko was intent on exploring subjects other than urban and nature scenes. He sought subjects that would complement his growing interest in form, space, and color. The world crisis of war gave this search a sense of immediacy.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/abex/hd_abex.htm |access-date=June 28, 2022 |website=metmuseum.org |title=Abstract Expressionism &#124; Essay &#124; the Metropolitan Museum of Art &#124; Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History }}</ref> He insisted that the new subject matter have a social impact, yet be able to transcend the confines of current political symbols and values. In his essay "The [[Romantics]] Were Prompted," published in 1948, Rothko argued that the "archaic artist ... found it necessary to create a group of intermediaries, monsters, hybrids, gods and demigods,"<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Romantics Were Prompted," Mark Rothko, ''Possibilities'', No. 1, p. 84 {{!}} ''Possibilities'', No. 1, Winter 1947-48 |url=https://theoria.art-zoo.com/the-romantics-were-prompted-mark-rothko/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170424065047/http://theoria.art-zoo.com/the-romantics-were-prompted-mark-rothko/ |url-status=usurped |archive-date=April 24, 2017 |access-date=February 5, 2020 |website=www.theoria.art-zoo.com |language=en}}</ref> in much the same way that modern man found intermediaries in [[Fascism]] and the [[Communist Party]]. {{citation needed|date=February 2018}} For Rothko, "without monsters and gods, art cannot enact a drama".{{sfn|Breslin|1993|p=240}}

Rothko's use of [[mythology]] as a commentary on current history was not novel. Rothko, Gottlieb, and Newman read and discussed the works of [[Sigmund Freud]] and [[Carl Jung]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jackson Pollock: Interviews, Articles, and Reviews. Pepe Karmel, Editor. {{!}} The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Distributed by Harry N. Abrams, 1999. P. 202. |url=https://mo.ma/2udiCWD |access-date=February 5, 2020 |website=www.moma.org |language=en}}</ref> In particular, they took interest in psychoanalytical theories concerning dreams, and archetypes of a collective unconscious. They understood mythological symbols as images, operating in a space of human consciousness, which transcends specific history and culture.{{sfn|Ashton|1983|p=40–50}} Rothko later said that his artistic approach was "reformed" by his study of the "dramatic themes of myth". He allegedly stopped painting altogether in 1940, to immerse himself in reading [[James Frazer|Sir James Frazer's]] study of mythology ''[[The Golden Bough]]'', and Freud's ''[[The Interpretation of Dreams]]''.{{sfn|Breslin|1993|p=160}}