Untitled (Violet, Black, Orange, Yellow on White and Red), 1949 by Mark Rothko

Mark Rothko's paintings with their large expanses of colour and uneven, hazy divisions between them, strive to convey emotions rarely attempted in modern art. While his work is greatly admired by many, his detractors either view his attempts at expressing the sublime as over-ambitious or see his paintings merely as boring and wholly unimpressive.