No.11 by Mark Rothko (1963)

Two rectangles, one ochre, one maroon, sit inside a field of black. No.11 is the name Rothko gave it in 1963. The ochre block floats slightly above center, its edges blurred into the black. Below, the maroon rectangle presses against the bottom edge, darker than the field itself. Neither shape touches the sides, leaving thin black margins that keep the rectangles suspended. Hang it where the light shifts slowly—above a low credenza or between two windows—and let the black swallow the wall around it.