Cy Twombly (1928–2011) was born in Lexington, Virginia. He studied at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (1947–49); the Art Students League, New York (1950–51); and Black Mountain College, North Carolina (1951–52). In the mid-1950s, following travels in Europe and Africa, he emerged as a prominent figure among a group of artists working in New York that included Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns. The late American artist brought a distinctive approach to painting and sculpture that evades precise affiliation with the predominant movements of the twentieth century. Inspired by ancient Mediterranean history and geography, Greek and Roman mythology, and epic poetry, Twombly created a sometimes inscrutable world of iconography, metaphor, and myth. Instead of presenting us with a narrative that is fully present and intact, Twombly offers an incomplete archive of impressions on which our own experience must be bought to bear. The artist was invited to exhibit his work at the Venice Biennale in 1964, 1989, and 2001 when he was awarded the Golden Lion at the 49th Venice Biennale. In 2010, he was made Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur by the French government. During fall 2010, Tacita Dean produced a film on Twombly, titled "Edwin Parker".

Cy Twombly

Cy Twombly’s idiosyncratic style incorporated expressive drips, frenetic scribbles, and gestural, calligraphic linework into lyrical abstractions.

From his days as a student at Black Mountain College during the early 1950s until his death in 2011 at the age of 83, Twombly captured his daily life in photographs. He recorded the verdant landscapes of Virginia and the coasts of Italy; close-up details of ancient buildings and sculptures; studio interiors; and still lifes of objects and flowers.

Twombly used specialized copiers to enlarge his Polaroid images on matte paper, resulting in subtle distortions that approximate the timeless qualities of his paintings and sculptures with their historical and literary allusions. The artist infused the physical and emotional aspects of Abstract Expressionism with a wealth of historic and mythic allusion. At once epic and intimate, his work is steeped with references to poetry and classical mythology. The alternation between the visible and the hidden, between present and past, and the struggle between memory and oblivion are unifying themes in his work.

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“ It's absurd to talk about paintings that you haven't finished. „

—Cy Twombly