Mark Rothko, New York

The 222 Bowery building was completed in 1884. At the time, the area was teeming with cheap pubs, shelters, homeless people, and prostitutes. The first tenant was the Young Men’s Institute, a forerunner of the YMCA (Young Men’s Christian Association).

The city is experiencing one of the toughest years in its history. But New York will reinvent itself again. After all, this is where the best ideas have always come from – from hot dogs to acrylic paint to disco.