The Rothko Chapel
1409 Sul Ross Street
10 a.m.–6 p.m.
Open every day of the year
713-524-9839
In 1952 John and Dominique de Menil visited Sacré Coeur in Audincourt to see the stained-glass windows created by Fernand Léger; the Chapelle de Saint-Marie du Rosaire, designed by Henri Matisse with windows and murals by the artist; and the site where Le Corbusier’s design for Notre Dame du Haut in Ronchamp was to be constructed. Back home in Houston, John wrote, "The split that now exists between the Church and creative art is of a concern to many. It is also a challenge . . . I have promised myself to encourage, within my means and reach, any attempt made to keep up the great tradition of the Church.”
That opportunity came in 1959, in the New York studio of artist Mark Rothko, where the artist was working on a group of paintings for the Seagram building. As Dominique wrote after the visit, the artist’s work would be “remarkable... for a chapel... so beautiful and religious.” In 1964 the de Menils asked the painter if he would be willing to design a suite of paintings for a Catholic chapel for the University of St. Thomas in Houston. Architect Philip Johnson agreed to collaborate with Rothko on the project.
As it evolved, the de Menils and the University of St. Thomas diverged on the purpose of the chapel. The Basilian Fathers’ ideas were more traditional than what the de Menils envisioned, and in 1969 the couple redefined the chapel as a non-sectarian worship space, siting it on land one block west of the university campus.
For the intimate, octagonal chapel, the de Menils commissioned fourteen massive canvases from Rothko (who did not live to see the installation).
While the chapel was being constructed, the de Menils presented the City of Houston with the Barnett Newman sculpture Broken Obelisk. They attached one condition to the gift: that the sculpture honor the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. When the city declined the gift, the de Menils decided to install it outside the Rothko Chapel. Newman, in collaboration with Johnson, sited the work (the sculpture rises from a reflecting pool, in perfect alignment with the chapel entrance).
Since its dedication in 1971, the Rothko Chapel has become a spiritual landmark, central to its urban community and far beyond.
Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk (1963–76)
in reflection pool outside the Rothko Chapel, c. 1987
"The Rothko Chapel is a place apart. It calls for a different form of attention,
a more hypnotic gaze than we are accustomed to expect.”
–David Anfam, The Chapel Commission
Dominique de Menil in the Rothko Chapel, c. 1987 photo by Adelaide de Menil Carpenter