In 1930, he found his mentor, Arshile Gorky, whose harrowing agon with the art of Picasso broached a new mode of pictorial space.

NEWYORKER: Shifting Picture

In addition to these Rothkos selected from the 295 works donated in 1985-86 to the National Gallery of Art by the Mark Rothko Foundation (formed by his children) the exhibition also includes 10 early works by other artists (among them Arshile Gorky, Adolph Gottlieb, Morris Louis, Robert Motherwell and Jackson Pollock) that set up a rich context for the early Rothko paintings.

WSJ: Becoming Mark Rothko | The Decisive Decade | Columbus Museum of Art