Gregory Scruggs takes us to a non-denominational chapel that has been a spiritual sanctuary and design lover’s dream for decades. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Some of the world's most stunning, moving and impressive pieces of architecture come in the form of religious buildings.
In Houston, a non denominational chapel that's currently rebuilding after Hurricane Beryl has been a spiritual sanctuary and design lovers dream for decades.
You're listening to Tall Stories, a monocle production brought to you by the team behind the Urbanist.
I'm Andrew Tuck.
In this episode, Gregory Scruggs takes us to the Rothko Chapel.
Step inside the Rothko Chapel and you get more than just a respite from the stifling Houston heat.
You get the precious experience of silence and stillness, something increasingly rare in the modern E.
You get a moment of contemplation, perhaps to connect with a force greater than yourself.
That, at least, was the hope of philanthropists and art patrons Dominique and Jean de Menil, the French American couple who wanted to create a sacred space in their adopted hometown.
The de Menils were enamored of how post war France infused religious buildings with contemporary art and architecture, from Henri Matisse's Chapel of the Rosary to Le Corbusier's Notre Dame duo.
And they were inspired by the Catholic Church's liberalizing tendencies during the Second Vatican Council.
So in 1964 they commissioned American Abstract Expressionist painter Mark Rothko to create a chapel, a thoroughly modern artist tasked with channeling an ancient yearning for divine encounter.
Rothko, famous for his color field paintings, eventually prepared 14 canvases that are the chapel's centerpiece.
Half feature hard edged black rectangles on maroon ground and the other half varying shades of purple tones.
But they didn't come easy for the tortured artist.
Rothko wrote to the dibennils in 1966, the magnitude on every level of experience and meaning of the task in which you have involved me exceeds all of my preconceptions, and it is teaching me to extend myself beyond what I thought was possible for me.
While the painter struggled internally, he lashed out.
Externally, Rothko clashed with the chapel's original architect, Philip Johnson of Glass House fame, and cycled through two more.
Rothko committed suicide in 1970, a year before the chapel was finally completed and open to the public, while Rothko himself never had the chance to appreciate his masterpieces in their intended setting.
Today, over 100,000 visitors from around the world make the pilgrimage annually, whether modern art aficionados or spiritual seekers.