Which artist painted the large color-field work No. 61 (Rust and Blue)?

Mark Rothko painted the large color-field work No. 61 (Rust and Blue).

Completed in 1953, the oil painting is a major example of Rothko’s mature style: broad, layered fields of rust, blue, and darker tones that seem to float rather than sit inside sharply outlined shapes. It measures roughly 115 by 92 inches and is now held by the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

Rothko was a leading figure in Abstract Expressionism, but this painting is also associated with Color Field painting. His technique involved thin, translucent layers that allowed colors to mingle and produce what he called an “inner light.” The work was first exhibited at New York’s Museum of Modern Art in 1961.

A common mix-up is to confuse Rothko’s color fields with the work of Clyfford Still, Barnett Newman, or Ad Reinhardt. Those artists were important fellow figures in postwar American abstraction, but No. 61 is specifically a Rothko painting.