Meeting Place: "Tragedy, Ecstasy, and Ruin: Mark Rothko and Painting as Emotion"
Meeting Place: "Tragedy, Ecstasy, and Ruin: Mark Rothko and Painting as Emotion"

Tragedy, Ecstasy, and Ruin: Mark Rothko and Painting as Emotion

with Giovanna Brambilla

“A painting is not a picture of an experience; it is an experience” claimed Mark Rothko, summarizing why his works demand and require direct observation. The paintings of the Latvian-born U.S. artist and leading figure of Color Field painting, a style characterized by vibrant expanses of color, expressed the anxiety of existence. Color which miraculously defies focus reflects the rigorous personal choices the artist never failed to engage with, up until his tragic death.

Giovanna Brambilla is an art historian and an expert in cultural heritage education and mediation. Her main focus is the relationship between museums and the public, particularly accessibility and inclusion. After graduating from university, she worked for a year as a volunteer researcher at the British Museum, London, before completing postgraduate courses in General and Museum Education at Roma Tre University, in Communication and Intercultural Mediation at the University of Bergamo, in Art History at the University of Milan (with a scholarship), and in Communication in School Settings at the University of Siena. From 1996 to 2022 she was the head of the Education Department at GAMeC, the Galleria d’Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Bergamo. She is currently self-employed and works with the Direzione regionale Musei Lombardia as the Head of Local Projects and Audience Development. She is also a member of the knowledge community of the Cultural Welfare Center, Turin, focusing on museums, hospitality, and wellbeing. Her most recent publications include, ldiqua. Immagini per chi resta (2023), Mettere al mondo il mondo: Immagini per una rinascita (2021), and Inferni: Parole e immagini di un’umanità al confine (2020).

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