Marcus Yakovlevich Rothkovitz, aka Mark Rothko, emigrated from the Russian Empire to the US aged 10 to become one of the most influential and original painters of the 20th century. Annie Cohen-Solal, the French cultural historian, has had unique access to previously unseen archival material Yale monograph and the result is a vivid and detailed portrait of this complex and brilliant man.

Annie Cohen-Solal is a French cultural historian and award-winning biographer of Sartre and Leo Castelli. She has been affiliated with prestigious institutions around the world, currently Stanford, and lives between Paris and Cortona.

Andrew Renton is director of the Marlborough Contemporary gallery and Professor of Curating at Goldsmith’s College, University of London.