R.I.P. Cy Twombly
The great expressionist artist has passed away in Rome, his adopted home.
When I first encountered his works in person, initially at a Whitney Biennial, then again more memorably at the Galleria Nazionale d’Arte Moderna, Rome, the palpable emotionality of his scrawls and scribbles and brushings stirred my heart. Those that touched on classic mythology and Italian history struck a particular chord in me.
His life in Italy is an example to all those artists living in Italy––both Italian and foreign. He painted. He painted. He painted. The idea that Italy was not a place to make art now never entered his iconography; instead, the opposite – he painted what inspired him here, what provoked his mind and called his soul.
This is the mark of a true artist.
Cy Twombly, thank you.
Notes
“American Artist who Scribbled a Unique Path,” New York Times. 6 June 2011.
“…the all-time greatest Mediterranean artist from Virginia…” – from The New Yorker online obit.
Do the Work, by Stephen Pressfield
