KunstKino: Rothko-Hartung – Colours and Cataclysms

The screening of Colours and Cataclysms will take place as part of the KunstKino. Sceening is in english.

Colours and Cataclysms / Stanislas Valroff, Thomas Schlesse / 34 min. / Enlish, French (english subtitles) – This documentary invites viewers to discover a little-known yet fascinating alliance between two legends of modern painting. On one side stands Rothko, in his own words “the most violent American painter,” on the other Hartung, a brilliant experimenter and “a boxer” before the canvas. From the moment they met in Hartung’s modest studio in 1950, a healthy rivalry took root, giving rise to monumental, metaphysical, and cataclysmic works. While Rothko offered guidance and advice that proved crucial for Hartung’s artistic development, Hartung, in turn, expressed deep admiration for the New York-based painter of Latvian origin. In October 1970, when Hartung learned in Antibes of Rothko’s suicide, he built a villa-studio where he preserved the memory of their artistic exchanges and spiritual kinship. This film brings that hidden story to light. The encounter between Rothko and Hartung is unprecedented, yet it represents a key chapter in understanding twentieth-century art.

As part of the exhibition Anna-Eva Bergman & Hans Hartung: And We’ll Never Be Parted, we will present a film that places the work of this artistic duo within an international context and in dialogue with their friend, the internationally acclaimed artist Mark Rothko. The Central European context of abstract painting will be introduced by art historian Marie Klimešová.