The Rothko Chapel: Writings on Art and the Threshold of the Divine

by Dominique De Menil, Fariha de Menil Friedrich (Foreword), Christopher Rothko (Foreword)

This elegant collection commemorates the timeless words and inspired thoughts of Dominique de Menil, a woman whose life’s task was to inspire a better world. With her husband John, Dominique founded the inter-religious Rothko Chapel in Houston in 1971. The de Menils’ dream was for the Chapel to promote interfaith dialogue, human rights, and the arts. They famously commissioned the artist Mark Rothko to create a suite of paintings specifically for the Chapel.

Genres: Art

124 pages, Paperback

First published October 12, 2010

Reviews

[Marlowe Brennan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bought this after visiting the Rothko Chapel for the first time. I was left agape by the Chapel and this helped me to process some of the thoughts and emotions. Really enjoyable quick read of de Manil's thoughts on art and social justice.

[Jeffrey (Akiva) Savett · Rating 4 out of 5]

I got this as a gift from a dear friend who knows how much I love Rothko. These short essays, all of which were delivered by Ms de Menil at various convocations at the Chapel in Houston, are each jewels. Every one, though she's always really talking about the same thing---the search for the transcendent, the incredibly powerful din of silence---takes a slightly different angle on Rothko's art and on the purpose of the Chapel. Actually, I think it might be more accurate to say that de Menil's real topic here is chapels in general; she's interested in the spaces that we make holy and deep by our mutual agreement. Ultimately, she believes the Rothko Chapel is the holy space par excellance because of its ecumenism and because of the nature of Rothko's abstract art, it's ability to be a place for any seeker on any quest for the divine.

[Heather · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heart-breakingly beautiful. Mrs. D. in her truest form: Honest, gracious, humble, eloquent, deeply human. I cried, nearly wept, my way through this text, but I did not regret a single character. Fariha's introduction was ideal, a poetic portrait of her mother.

As much as I have always loved the chapel paintings, I now see them as something even more powerfully transcendent than I did before.

[Kelly J · Rating 5 out of 5]

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