And though a dining room was likely not the best setting for these paintings, which both Sert and Pusey observed as soon as they were installed, it is quite remarkable that Rothko was chosen at all. The commission represented a progressive step in the direction of modern art, and a willingness to depart from Georgian traditionalism, on the part of the Harvard Corporation.

But the fact remains that at present, nobody can see and experience Rothko’s Harvard murals. Cooper argues that “these need to be seen [and] that keeping them in storage is negligent.”

But Rothko’s estate requires that they must be hung together and in the same configuration as in their initial installation. No one is sure whether they can ever be hung permanently. Rothko preferred his work to be hung in dim light, but it remains to be seen how dim that light would need to be to prevent further damage.

Moreover, the paintings are so large that to even get them into existing buildings requires the transom to be removed from doorways. Once inside they must be put in a space with the same dimensions as their original location. According to Cohn, the art museums are already so pressed for space and resources that there is no conceivable way the murals could have a home until something new is built.

The murals would likely have had a place in the modern and contemporary art museum that was to be built in the Riverside neighborhood, but this project was scrapped by University planners in 2002 in the face of community opposition. If a new museum is eventually built, Cohn pictures “one of the rooms…be built the approximate size and shape of the penthouse, and the Rothkos be hung and temporary walls be placed in front of them. Then we could use that gallery for other art and once in a while take away the facing walls and show the Rothkos.”

Mancusi-Ungaro believes they could have a permanent place if careful arrangements were made as to the light levels and conditions in which they were hung. She adds that the unique history of the Rothko murals is itself enough reason for a modern art museum to be built, as this would allow them to be studied by both historians and conservators.

Mancusi-Ungaro says a new art museum would also mean a home for her Center for the Technical Study of Modern Art. This center, established when she was hired, is concerned with exactly the issues that Rothko’s murals have brought to the fore.

“If a work of art should change in a way that is not fully understood, then the center would do the research necessary to address the problem,” said Mancusi-Ungaro. This holistic view of the artistic process would, in her mind, provide exactly the body of knowledge that Rothko lacked, the absence of which led to the considerable damage the Harvard murals sustained.

—Staff writer Brian D. Goldstein can be reached at bgoldst@fas.harvard.edu.