BIRTH(+)FACT(᙮)DEATH(-)

39th year  -  N° 361                 Thursday, 26 December 2024         Antwerpen		
One's Young Life is Like a Flower in Bloom
BirthFactDeath (-)
Wednesday 25th of February 1970

54 years ago



Abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko born as Marcus Yakovlevich Rothkowitz commits suicide by slashing his arms at the age of 67 in 118 E. 95th Street, Manhattan, New York, New York, United States.


Rothko's body was found by his assistant Oliver Steindecker when Steindecker arrived in the morning for work. Rothko was lying face-up on the kitchen floor of his studio in a pool of blood, his arms outstretched. He was dressed in an undershirt, long johns and long black socks. He had removed his glasses, shoes and trousers (which were found folded over the back of a chair) before slitting his arms with a double-edged razor. He first took the razor in his right hand (after carefully wrapping a tissue over one one side of the razor) and made a cut in his left arm. He then switched the razor to his left hand and made an even deeper cut in his right arm. Both cuts were made just below the bend of the elbow. The autopsy revealed that Rothko had also overdosed on anti-depressants.