During the early 1940s, Mark Rothko turned to Greek mythology as a means of responding to the horrors of World War II. Greek Tragedy’s stage-like, claustrophobic composition is heavily laden with symbols. At the center of the image, a gold, frieze-like form frames the head of a mythic hero. Red, white, and blue striped bunting and a pleated, gray cloth resembling the draped tunics worn by the ancient Greeks seem to form his body, symbolically connecting the contemporary conflict of World War II with ancient battles. In the lower center, an abstracted red bird, perhaps representing a baleful omen, adds to the fateful atmosphere of the scene.

The artist’s imagery often expressed inner turmoil, an especially poignant theme in the climate of anxiety that permeated wartime American culture. The composition’s fields of flat, solid color are precursors of Rothko’s later Color Field paintings for which he became best known.