In modern art, artists frequently move away from concrete and narrative images in favor of the abstract. Mark Rothko’s piece, No. 10, and Paul Klee’s Fire in the Evening are both famous, abstract paintings. However, they differ significantly in many aspects which, as a result, illustrate the different sociocultural environments in which they were created. Rothko’s piece is purely abstract, nonobjective art, whose use of many layers of blended oil on canvas evokes emotion from the viewer through its natural brush strokes and vibrant, overlaying colors, which mask subtle underlying colors. Klee’s piece, while abstract, is not purely abstract like Rothko’s because it vaguely represents the image of a fire, as implied by the title. Furthermore, the piece, painted with oil on cardboard rather than canvas, uses much more defined brush strokes of colors, which are mostly darker than those in Rothko’s, to create a very structured and geometric pattern. While Rothko’s piece represents American society’s concern with the individual and personal emotion, a common theme among abstract expressionist painters, Klee, a German expressionist, portrays the rigid and dark world of WWII-era Germany.

-Jaimee :^)

(Sorry this is late)