Art Talks: The Seagram Murals

Sometimes you fall in love

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Next year Tate Modern is celebrating turning 25. I was 13 when it opened, and I felt instantly at home. Here was a building I could understand, full of art that would transport me to new places. Among that art were Mark Rothko’s Seagram Murals. I was instantly and utterly in love. I would go at weekends and spend hours staring in awe. These paintings, particularly Red on Maroon, became a place of safety and peace. A place of bewitchment and transportation. Red on Maroon remains one of my favourite paintings in the history of art.

Red on Maroon, hanging at Tate St Ives

Earlier this year, five of the Seagram Murals arrived at Tate St Ives. I genuinely could not have been more excited by their arrival. My first day at work after they’d been hung, I went straight to their gallery and stopped in my tracks. It was like seeing a lover for the first time in years. I am not embarrassed to admit that I cried.

The paintings come down on January 5^th, ready to return to Tate Modern for the galleries 25^th birthday. I will profoundly miss sitting with them.

As part of my job, I am lucky enough to deliver talks. What follows here is the talk I have been happily delivering to visitors.