An outstanding figure in Abstract Expressionism and one of the creators of Colour Field Painting. Born in Latvia, his family emigrated to the USA when he was 10. In his early phases he was influenced by Expressionism and Surrealism, but from about 1947 he began to develop his distinctive mature style. Typically his paintings feature large rectangular expanses of colour arranged parallel to each other, usually in a vertical format, with softly uneven edges giving them a hazy, pulsating quality. The paintings are often very large and can have a powerful impact. They cost Rothko enormous emotional effort. He always denied being an abstract artist and was only interested in expressing basic human emotions.