How did Mark Rothko die?

Search: mark rothko

Why: In Bluebeard by Kurt Vonnegut, p. 143:

I have had quite a few friends commit suicide... Arshile Gorky hanged himself in 1948. Jackson Pollock, while drunk, drove his car into a tree along a deserted road in 1956... Three weeks later, Terry Kitchen shot himself through the roof of his mouth with a pistol... Yes, and Mark Rothko, with enough sleeping pills in his medicine cabinet to kill an elephant, slashed himself to death with a knife in 1970.

He's the guy who did this shit:

Harumph.

Answer: Suicide! Obviously! But he slashed his forearms:

In the spring of 1968, Rothko was diagnosed with a mild aortic aneurysm. Ignoring doctor’s orders, Rothko continued to drink and smoke heavily, avoided exercise, and maintained an unhealthy diet. However, he did follow the medical advice given not to paint pictures larger than a yard in height, and turned his attention to smaller, less physically strenuous formats, including acrylics on paper. Meanwhile, Rothko's marriage had become increasingly troubled, and his poor health and impotence resulting from the aneurysm compounded his feeling of estrangement in the relationship. Rothko and his wife Mell separated on New Year’s Day 1969, and he moved into his studio.

On February 25, 1970, Rothko’s assistant found the artist in his kitchen lying dead on the floor, covered in blood. He had sliced his arms with a razor found lying at his side. During autopsy, it was discovered he had also overdosed on anti-depressants. He was 66 years old.

Weh weh.

Source: Wikipedia

The More You Know: My handwriting is all over the margins of this book, but I don't remember reading it at all. It's weird.

Anyway, in Palm Sunday (a 1981 collection of short stories that I have and you can borrow), Vonnegut grades his own works. Bluebeard wasn't published til 1987.

• Player Piano: B
• The Sirens of Titan: A
• Mother Night: A
• Cat's Cradle: A-plus
• God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater: A
• Slaughterhouse-Five: A-plus
• Welcome to the Monkey House: B-minus
• Happy Birthday, Wanda June: D
• Breakfast of Champions: C
• Slapstick: D
• Jailbird: A
• Palm Sunday: C

So I guess it's time for you to read Cat's Cradle and the Books of Bokonon.

Nice, nice, very nice--
So many different people
In the same device.