Rothko’s idea is that this uncertain grasping for visual markers is equal to RELIGION: that is, searching for some proof of God in the face of a dark and powerful, uncontrollable world—where the final end is Death—the black void that the paintings seem at first to represent. And yet, just as there are glimmerings of hope in the world, so Rothko gives us small, controlled inklings of hope in the ever-so-slight variations of color, blotches, lighter zones—hope that we are never (can never be) sure of.”
