Mark Rothko

Mark Rothko, the painter of those colossal, vibrating rectangles of color, was a man of profound seriousness who wanted his art to express basic human emotions. He famously instructed viewers to stand just eighteen inches from his canvases, presumably to be fully absorbed by the emotional weight of the works. Rumor has it, he had a wicked sense of humor, once cheekily referring to his "peasant" origins despite his educated background. While at Yale, he even co-founded a satirical magazine called *The Yale Saturday Evening Pest* to poke fun at the stuffy establishment. It's also said he wasn't above using the same construction paper as his students when he taught art to children. He was a man of intense conviction, famously backing out of a lucrative commission for the Four Seasons restaurant because he couldn't stomach his art being a backdrop for the chattering elite. In a twist worthy of a spy novel, there are even whispers that the CIA secretly promoted his work as a weapon in the Cold War. So, next time you're enveloped by a Rothko, remember you might be experiencing a complex brew of sublime emotion, a rumored peasant's wit, and maybe, just maybe, a dash of Cold War intrigue.