What do the paintings mean?
Atypically, the artist was allowed to have a say in the architectural layout of the space, so the paintings were specifically created as one with it. Therefore no one painting can be understood alone or apart from the architectural environment for which is was composed. The entire chapel is a unified statement. The statement seems to be one of “darkness and impenetrability” that had become present in Rothko’s work by the late 1950s. Rothko’s own tumultuous life can be read about on Wikipedia, among other places. It describes the effect as “surrounding the viewer with massive, imposing visions of darkness”. Over the six years of his life spent on this project, Rothko had a gradually growing concern for the transcendent (caution: that word doesn’t mean the same thing to everyone). Nodelman writes that he told friends the Chapel would be his most important artistic statement. Initially, the chapel was to be Roman Catholic. It’s octagonal shape was based on the Byzantine church of St. Mari
