Sotheby’s Magazine, Apr 16, 2019 [online].

Feeling trapped and uneasy, we look out of the window from time to time and wonder when will life get back to normal again.   

However, how will we interpret this feeling in a painting? Through Seagram Murals, Rothko has somehow given the answer half a century ago.

焦虑而不安，我们不时望向窗外，盼望着生活恢复正常。

在过去几个月中，人们对这种感觉早已习以为常。然而，我们应如何通过绘画中来诠释这种心情？罗斯科（Rothko）的西格拉姆壁画（Seagram Murals）在半个世纪前早已给出了答案。

In 1958 Rothko was commissioned to paint a series of murals for the exclusive Four Seasons restaurant in the Seagram Building. Rothko was eager to create a lasting environment for his paintings, but doubts about the appropriateness of the restaurant setting ultimately led to his withdrawal from the commission. In 1969, the Seagram murals finally found their place in Tate Gallery, as to fulfill the right purpose - arousing vigorous human emotion through quiet contemplation.

1958年，罗斯科受委托为曼哈顿西格拉姆大楼内的四季餐厅（Four Season Hotel）创作一系列壁画作品。然而，浮华的氛围与罗斯科想为他的画作创造冥想空间的初衷相抵触，最终从餐厅收回了这个系列画作。 1969年，西格拉姆壁画终于在泰特画廊（Tate Gallery）找到了实现自身使命的归宿 - 通过引发沉思唤起强烈的人类情感。

Rather than being displayed individually, these paintings were hung in a single room in order to offer an immersive experience of transcendence. Rothko’s instructions were that the walls should be made off-white and the light should be dim. This murky gloom and limited vision correspond to the current atmosphere. Surrounded by a sense of darkness, we try to make sense of what has happened. But we cannot. Everything is obscure, puzzling and uncertain. No one knows about the truth, no one sees the future.

这些绘画作品没有被单独陈列，而是都挂在一个房间里，以便提供身临其境的体验。按照罗斯科的指示，展厅的墙壁应为灰白色，光线应该昏暗。这种朦胧的阴郁和有限的视野无形中对应了当前的社会气氛。世界被黑暗包围，人们试图弄清发生了什么，却毫无头绪。一切都是那样令人困惑、充满了不确定。没有人知道真相，没有人看到未来。

Wandering in the room, we are entirely overwhelmed by the compelling silence and intense atmosphere. Not only because of the alarming burgundy, scarlet or bronze color, but the bold, free and fury lines, the simplicity and stillness of the reduced, geometric form. The first thing that comes to mind is the inferno. The murky, dim but rather robust red is the color of the burning flame torturing the sinners with abominable demons hovering around. These bloody squares make me think of death - not only death of disease, but of redemption and sacrifice. Decades ago, people cannot image such horrible pestilence. However, as the development of human civilization, man and nature are no longer in a harmonious state. Is everything a result of blindly destroying and claiming? Is nature sending the fire of revenge out through the door of punishment? In some way, it could be. Red, the color of blood, is also the color of sacrifice. Other than mourning the dead, we must not forget those medical workers around the world who put their lives at risk for others. This dedication and sacrifice are even more shocking than death itself.

漫步在展厅，我们完全被沉默和压抑感包围。不仅是因为那强烈的酒红色，猩红色或古铜色，而且还因为那些粗糙，自由而奔放的几何线条的简洁。这些作品令人联想到地狱。朦胧，暗淡的红色是燃烧的火焰，恶魔在周围盘旋。这些方块使人想到死亡 - 不仅是疾病，还有救赎和牺牲。红色是血液的颜色，也是牺牲的颜色。除了哀悼死者，我们更不能忘记那些为了他人而将自身安全至于危险的医务工作者。这种奉献和牺牲比死亡本身更令人震惊。几十年前，人们无法想象这种可怕的瘟疫。然而，随着人类文明的发展，人与自然不再处于和谐状态。我们不禁感叹，这一切都是盲目破坏和索取的结果吗？大自然是否通过惩罚的大门放出了复仇之火？

Rothko was originally inspired by Michelangelo's staircase walls of the Laurentian Library in Florence. There, he found the kind of effect he's after - making the viewers feel that they are trapped in a room where all the doors and windows are bricked up, so that all they can do is butt their heads forever against the wall. Under this notion, the Seagram Murals was born - a series leading us to a deep psychological and spiritual experience. Their rectangular shape is reminiscent of windows or doorways, at times we feel that they are pressing in on us and invites us in. Especially at the moment, these paintings make us think of the deadly pandemics, maddening isolation and lock-down. The blood-red border inside the picture seems to be the exit of hell, with flames of evil running out of it, bring disasters to people. Those maroon boxes are like Pandora's boxes, from which the virus leaks out, importing misfortune. These boxes are also the shapes of the electric screen from which we know the outside world now. The panic inside the box breaks the border, spreads to our hearts, resonates with what we have been through. Looking at these pictures more closely, we begin to see all kinds of  layers laid underneath which built up the harmony color surface. The reddish color spreads and gathers unevenly. As if the surrounding air is floating, wafting along with enveloping smoke. From these fuzzy and rough brushstrokes, we try to infer what mood the artist had and what method he used when creating this texture. These layers of paint over the patchy background as if to symbolize people’s different opinions upon the complicated reality. Something has hidden under the seemingly peaceful surface, tiny chaos have been corroding order, waiting for the final outbreak.

这些壁画的灵感最初来自于罗斯科在佛罗伦萨洛朗图书馆（Laurentian Library）看到的楼梯墙。在那儿，他找到了自己想要的那种效果 - 使观众感到被困在一个房间。那里所有的门窗都是砖砌的，观众所能做的就是永远将头靠在墙上。在这种观念下，西格拉姆壁画诞生了-它使我们获得了强烈的心理和精神体验。这些矩形形状让人联想到窗户或门，我们感到它们正压在我们身上并吸引我们进来。尤其是在此刻，这些画使我们想到了致命的流行病，令人抓狂的隔离和封锁。

These three pictures have the shapes of windows, as if silhouettes in the sunset. However, compared to ordinary windows, they are more like prison windows or iron cage fences. Only a narrow gap remains between the thick strips. We look outside through this gap, but are blinded by the red flame. We look inside through this gap, trying to reflect on our inner world, in the middle is nothing but endless anxiety and panic. In the Seagram murals, we find a tragedy, not of the spirit but of power. They are not religious paintings but furious meditations. The depressive and dreary colors precisely convey our feelings of being trapped indoors, unable to go out, to live the normal life. Everything was interrupted, everything stopped, the future is up in the air. We can not breath, our throats have been choked. We are paralyzed, helpless, don't know what to blame, whose fault it is and how to get rid of it. We feel the misery inside our hearts and what is important to us. How fragile and small human beings are, whereas the power of human emotions is mighty enough to destroy or create a world.

这三张图片具有窗户的形状，就像夕阳下的剪影。但是，与普通窗户相比，它们更像监狱窗户或铁笼围栏。厚条之间仅保留着一个狭窄的间隙。我们通过这个缝隙向外看，但是被红色火焰蒙蔽了双眼。我们通过这个缝隙看进内部，试图反思内心世界，看到的是无尽的焦虑和恐慌。在西格拉姆壁画中，我们发现了一个悲剧，不仅是精神性的，而且是力量性的。他们不是宗教绘画，而是愤怒的冥想作品。抑郁和沉闷淹没了我们。一切都被打断，一切都停了下来，前途未卜。我们无法呼吸，我们的喉咙被扼住。我们感到无助，不知道应该责怪谁，不知道应该如何摆脱。内心的挣扎让我们意识到什么是真正重要的东西。在灾难面前，人类是如此脆弱和渺小，而人类的情感却又如此强大，强大到足以摧毁或创造一个世界。

 INDEPENDENT, Oct 8, 2012 [online].

A few years ago, a man daubed the words ‘Vladimir Umanets, A Potential Piece of Yellowism’ in black ink or paint on the bottom of one of Rothko’s Seagram paintings. Nevertheless, he did not claim to be a vandal. He said, "Art allows us to take what someone's done and put a new message on it." Here we are doing the same thing, just in a different way. The most valuable feature of that is the endless possibilities to interpret - epic and baffling, drama and mystery, the undefinable universal human tragedy.They are not paintings about nothing. They are paintings about everything. The emotions they carry glow with different colors in different times. They bring people different feelings under different situations, and in this special period, it can not be more suitable.

几年前，一名男子在罗斯科的一张西格拉姆作品底部用黑色颜料涂抹了“弗拉基米尔·乌曼内斯（Vladimir Umanets），一种潜在的黄色主义”字样。尽管如此，他并没有声称自己是破坏者。他说：“艺术使我们能够接受某人所做的事情，并通过它传达新的信息。”现在，我们以不同的方式做着同样的事情。也许，抽象作品最有价值的特征便是其解释的无限可能性-或是令人困惑、或是充满神秘、或是充满戏剧性。他们并不是没有内涵，而是包含了一切。他们所携带的情感在不同时期呈现出不同的色彩，在不同情况下给人们带来不同的感受。而在这个特殊时期，再合适不过了。