We find three main bands of colour, with a narrow stripe of green sitting between two expanses of violet and red. In many photographs of this piece the violet actually appears more like a tone of blue, and few now are unable to see the piece in person. As is typical of Rothko's approach, each of these three main areas of colour are softened around the edges, with some parts of the background tones showing through. The piece would reach an extraordinary price of €140,000,000 when changing hands between two private collectors, having previously been purchased for around €80,000,000. Rothko was seen as an excellent investment opportunity and many modern artists from the 20th century have been seen in this way in recent years. The individuals purchasing such items now come from a truly global background, too, with wealth spreading into Eastern Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Western artists appear to be seen in most cases as the safest artists to invest in, with impressive returns for those who select the right ones.

Rothko would work in a number of different styles during his career but it was his Color Field artworks which became his signature approach. He would rotate his palette across a wide number of variations, trying fewer and greater numbers of individual regions, as well as some horizontally based works. His intention was to immerse the viewer into his colour by making his canvases huge, tall and wide enough that the viewer's focus would be entirely covered by the boundaries of the work. Sadly, this means that one can only appreciate each work properly by seeing it in person, as small images online will not really do any of them justice. In today's art world it is bright colours that are the most popular with the public, and so some of Rothko's paintings such as No. 6 (Violet, Green and Red) where such palettes are used will always receive more attention.

The artist would reflect his own mood through the colours of his paintings and he went through a darker era when clearly life was not entirely to his satisfaction. He consistently avoided naming his Color Field paintings with any unique, identifying titles and so untitled labels litter much of his career. His more surrealist pieces did, however, have more memorable names. His use of red here underlines its importance to his career, becoming one of his most used tones across this style of work, with it combining well against black, white and also other warm colours as well. He would even clash it against shades of orange from time to time as well. Most people refer to his regions of colour as lozenges, where the edges are always shaded and softened in a way that helps the neighbouring colours to combine alongside them.