RED (A play by John Logan)

In 1958, the abstract expressionist painter Mark Rothko was commissioned, for what might have been the equivalent of the Sistine Chapel commission, to paint a series of murals for the cutting edge Seagram Building on Park Avenue. But after completing the works, he mysteriously decides to keep the paintings and returns every penny of the advance. Years later, the artist donates the works to the Tate Gallery in London and on the very day it arrives at the gallery, he commits suicide. The play introduces a fictitious assistant who engages Rothko in arguments and conversations that ultimately make us understand why Rothko might decide to withdraw his work from the commission.