Restoring Rothko | Tate

I have no art education whatsoever. I have only life education - the kind that comes from growing older, and losing loved ones, and experiencing joy and pain and tragedy. And when I walked into the room housing Mark Rothko's Seagram Murals last summer, it seemed to me that he'd captured all the emotions of my lifetime on his canvas. And I started weeping. I wasn't even unhappy when I went in, I was just struck by the emotion he was trying to communicate to me. This, to me, is art. My husband didn't feel the same way, and that is fine. But for me, I will never forget the way Rothko's deceptively simply work communicated to me across time and without words or recognizable images. It was pure human feeling, distilled onto canvass. My profound thanks to the people who worked so hard to restore it.

You may or may not be a fan of abstract art but destroying another person's work, that others spend time enjoying is a shit thing to do. Period.

Well.. I would have died of Performance anxiety 100 times over... The confidence of a restorations artist must be incredible!

Can we just talk about those poignant moments after the painting was taken away after her work was done.. She poured so much of herself into her work that she was left totally lost and having to almost reboot her consciousness after focusing so fiercely on her work. Powerful.

I personally am not a fan of this specific type of art but I can appreciate and respect the effort for conservation of the artists work.

I remember once in high school that a bully destroyed one of my sketchbooks. I'm a nobody and they were just sketches but I remember being absolutely devastated. It's not about how it looks like who it belongs to, when you put your heart and soul into something it's like you yourself have been assaulted.

That Spanish granny could handle this one in ten minutes

I’m so glad Tate allowed the filming of the whole procedure. Rachel Barker’s dedication and skills are astounding. Fantastic work.

It was a great honor to be part of the restoration with the Hirox Microscope. We hope to help further the Museum Community to keep artworks in the best conditions for the future generations.

If you don't like Rothko, that's absolutely fine. Art is about opinions and you don't have to like everything. But opinions are personal and while someone might dislike something, it gives them no right to destroy it. Talk about your opinions, and it'll give you a good conversation. But destroying something out of nothing but spite is selfish and spreads unhappiness through other people. That's why the vandalism here was terrible: not because Rothko should be revered above anyone else, but because of the selfishness of the act.

The amount of art and science and labor that went into fixing this assault is breathtaking. From now on, I will always try to pay full price at "suggested donation" public museums. Thank you for employing such an incredible group of technicians, Tate museum, and for keeping such an important array of skills alive.

The reverence with which these conservators treat artworks is a more spiritual experience than I’ve ever found in a church.

Filmed over 18 months, the story behind the restoration of Mark Rothko's 'Black on Maroon'. Mark Rothko's 'Black on Maroon' 1958 goes back on public view at Tate Modern on 13 May 2014, following 18 months of intensive work by the Conservation team and colleagues across Tate. The painting, one of the iconic Seagram murals which Rothko donated to Tate in 1970, was vandalised with graffiti ink in October 2012. It has since been the subject of detailed research and restoration by the core treatment team of Rachel Barker, Bronwyn Ormsby and Patricia Smithen.

I love at 11:26  that there is a blanket with the words "ROTHKO UNDERNEATH!". What a weird situation.

It's like I'm watching real life Photoshop. I don't care much for his work but I still found this pretty cool. 

I am someone who enjoys abstract art, but I never understood Rothko’s work until I saw one of his paintings ‘in person,” as it were. The pieces have to be experienced first hand. My deepest appreciation and thanks to these remarkable women for their skill and tenacity.

Respect, i was waiting for a video like this for 2 years now hoping that the painting would come to public display again. I am blown away by the level of skill and passion that has gone into this project. Good job.

I was fortunate enough to catch the Rothko room at the Tate Modern, it's about as close as I've come to a religious experience. Say what you will about the pretense of the modernists they sure made some spicy works. So glad there are people out there keeping entropy from eating everything

Vandal - ‘HA! I don’t like this artwork; I’m going to destroy it with permanent ink! What are you gonna do about it?!’ Conservator - ‘Hold my turpentine...’

Thank you for sharing this process freely and well done to the TATE and the restorers.  Regardless of ones personal opinion of the work of Rothko it has taken it's place in the history of art and needs protecting.  Also I'm very pleased that you give no acknowledgment or profile to the vandal.