06 Apr Book Review: The Legacy of Mark Rothko by Lee Seldes

This one’s a bit of a shift from fiction, but it’s no less dramatic. The Legacy of Mark Rothko reads more like a legal thriller than a dry art history tome, and it’s one of those rare books that manages to make the intersection of art, law, and greed feel urgent and gripping. If you’ve ever looked at a Rothko painting and thought, “Okay, but what’s the story behind this?”, this book gives you that story—and it’s wild.

What’s it about?

At its heart, this is the story of what happened after Mark Rothko’s death in 1970. Rothko, a towering figure in American abstract expressionism, was known for his large, luminous canvases that pulsed with color and emotion. But like a lot of artists, he was less interested in business and more concerned with his creative legacy. That disinterest—and perhaps some misplaced trust—set the stage for what would become one of the most scandalous legal battles in the art world.

When Rothko died by suicide, he left behind a massive body of work—over 800 paintings—and a will that named three men as executors of his estate. What followed was a mess of epic proportions. Instead of preserving Rothko’s artistic legacy with care, these men (including his gallerist and business associate) began selling off his works in bulk to the Marlborough Gallery under deeply questionable circumstances.

The terms of the sales were sketchy at best—paintings were sold for fractions of their value, commissions were obscenely high, and much of the negotiation was hidden from public view. Even worse, it seemed that Rothko’s own children were being sidelined and denied access to both their inheritance and their father’s true intentions. Enter Kate Rothko, his daughter, who was just nineteen at the time and suddenly found herself at the center of a legal fight against powerful, well-connected art world figures.

The book follows the ensuing legal battle, which spanned over a decade and involved accusations of fraud, self-dealing, breach of fiduciary duty, and the systematic exploitation of an artist’s work for profit. It’s a tale of high-stakes art deals, shady contracts, and the long arm of the law eventually catching up with the people who thought they could outmaneuver it.

Lee Seldes, the journalist behind the book, dives deep into the courtroom drama while also giving readers a sense of who Rothko was as a person and an artist. His philosophies about art, his concerns about commodification, and his emotional fragility all come through, making the legal battle feel even more poignant. The question hanging over everything is: what does it mean to protect an artist’s legacy—and who actually gets to decide?

Seldes also explores the broader implications for the art world. The case set precedents around estate management and fiduciary responsibility, and it raised uncomfortable questions about how artists are remembered—and how their work is exploited—once they’re gone. It’s not just about Rothko; it’s about every artist who’s ever trusted someone to safeguard what they created.

What This Chick Thinks

This was one of those books I didn’t expect to get as into as I did. I went in curious about Rothko the artist and came out raging at the art world’s capacity for corruption. It’s maddening to read about how blatantly his estate was mishandled, and even more maddening that it took years of legal wrangling to sort out.

But it’s also incredibly satisfying. Watching Kate Rothko fight back—despite her age, despite the power imbalance—was kind of exhilarating. She could have walked away or let others handle it, but she didn’t. She stuck it out through depositions and trials and public scrutiny, and that quiet determination gave the book its heart.

Lee Seldes does a good job of balancing the procedural elements with human emotion. There are sections that get into the weeds of contract law and estate procedure, but they’re never dry. They feel like steps in a bigger journey to justice. And Seldes clearly has a deep respect for Rothko’s work and what he stood for, which makes the betrayal by his supposed friends feel even more painful.

What struck me most was how timeless it all felt. The art world today is still full of shady deals, inflated prices, and questions about authenticity and ethics. Rothko’s case may have been one of the first major legal battles over an artist’s estate, but it won’t be the last. This book makes you think not just about the paintings on the wall, but about all the hands they’ve passed through to get there.

Final Thoughts

The Legacy of Mark Rothko is a fascinating, infuriating, and ultimately hopeful account of what it means to fight for artistic integrity in a world that too often values money over meaning. Whether you’re into art, law, or just a well-told real-life drama, this one’s worth your time.

Rating: 9/10

Try it if you like

• Provenance: How a Con Man and a Forger Rewrote the History of Modern Art by Laney Salisbury and Aly Sujo – A juicy, true tale of art fraud and forgery.
• The Gardner Heist by Ulrich Boser – A gripping investigation into the world’s biggest unsolved art theft and the shady corners of the art market.
• Ninth Street Women by Mary Gabriel – A deeper dive into the New York art scene that shaped Rothko and his contemporaries, with a focus on the brilliant women often left out of the story