Episode 125: An Artist in Rome - Cy Twombly
“Some have described Twombly as an American Painter, and others a European painter. Defining him as either is a futile endeavour, and one that is increasingly irrelevant. In his last interview, he said “I am a Mediterranean painter” What could be more appropriate - a painter of place and a painter of sensibility, rather than a painter of nationality.”
Paul Winkler, Cy Twombly for Centre Pompidou, Exhibition Catalogue, Edited by Jonas Storsve
Images Horst P. Horst for Vogue
In 1952 Robert Rauschenberg photographed his friend and fellow artist Cy Twombly standing with a thin notebook next to Constantine’s colossal hand while on holiday in Rome. They were together on a traveling arts scholarship. They traveled extensively for months in Italy and North Africa.
Five years later Cy Twombly moved from America to live in Rome, Italy.
Cy Twombly made a life in Rome as an artist. He kept the art world at bay, painting vast canvases full of white space with a trademark quality to the work, secluding himself in places like Gaeta, Bassano and in Rome.
Twombly would take many journeys over his lifetime. Moving between places and homes and making art. Twombly’s fascination with ancient civilisations, the Mediterranean cultures, the Greco and the Roman would converge on his canvases. A love of literature and poetry underlines his art.
This is a story about place, art and history, and how they intersect on the canvas of life.
Image by Horst P. Horst for Vogue
The visual inspiration of Cy Twombly taken by Robert Rauschenberg in 1952 - Capitoline Museum in Rome. Edmund de Wail described as “Two young Americans on the Grand Tour”
Cy - Relics, Rome, 1952, Gelatin Silver Print by Robert Rauschenberg
Photograph by Robert Rauschenberg, 1952
Shownotes:
Cy Twombly for Centre Pompidou, Exhibition Catalogue, Edited by Jonas Storsve
Article on Cy Twombly in Rome and legendary Vogue images by Horst P Horst
Fondazione Nicola del Roscio - Contemporary Space in Rome, Italy
There are a few reasons this research began. It started out with me musing over artists and writers moving to Italy, the creative energy that awakens and happens in a certain place. Italy as a creative catalyst; the beauty, romance, history, lifestyle, culture.
Musei Capitolini Rome by Michelle Johnston, 2025
Untitled, Senza titolo, 1967 Cy Twombly (1928-2011)
Peggy Guggenheim Museum, Venice, 2025
Untitled, Senza titolo, 1967 Cy Twombly (1928-2011)
Three studies from the Temeraire, 1998-1999 Cy Twombly, NSW Art Gallery, Australia by Michelle Johnston
