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Cy Twombly

Bacchus

November 2–December 24, 2005
980 Madison Avenue, New York

Installation view Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation

Installation view

Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation

Installation view Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation

Installation view

Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation

Installation view Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation

Installation view

Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation

Installation view Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation

Installation view

Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation

Installation view Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation

Installation view

Artwork © Cy Twombly Foundation

About

Gagosian is pleased to present an exhibition of new work by Cy Twombly. The exhibition is comprised of eight monumental paintings and one sculpture, all completed in 2005.

Fleshy grounds are violently activated with large, dripping loops of red oil paint. These compositions immediately recall the gestural force of Twombly’s Blackboard paintings from the mid-1960s and continue his ongoing search for universal truths locked away in the annals of myth and history.

The full title of the exhibition, Bacchus: Psilax and Mainomenos, refers to the opposing natures that constitute the character of the God of wine, pleasure, and festivities. On the one hand, Bacchus is Psilax (“psila” being Doric for wings), suggesting that he can uplift men and women, lightening their spirits. On the other hand, Bacchus can be Mainomenos: the crazed, violent God of Dionysian fury.

Image of Cy Twombly's Treatise on the Veil (Second Version), 1970

Cy Twombly: Imperfect Paradise

Eleonora Di Erasmo, cocurator of Un/veiled: Cy Twombly, Music, Inspirations, a program of concerts, video screenings, and works by Cy Twombly at the Fondazione Nicola Del Roscio, Rome, reflects on the resonances and networks of inspiration between the artist and music. The program was the result of an extensive three-year study, done at the behest of Nicola Del Roscio in the Rome and Gaeta offices of the Cy Twombly Foundation, intended to collect, document, and preserve compositions by musicians around the world who have been inspired by Twombly’s work, or to establish an artistic dialogue with them.

Black and white image of the interior of Cy Twombly’s apartment in Rome

Cy Twombly: Making Past Present

In 2020, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, announced their plan for a survey of Cy Twombly’s artwork alongside selections from their permanent ancient Greek and Roman collection. The survey was postponed due to the lockdowns necessitated by the coronavirus pandemic, but was revived in 2022 with a presentation at the J. Paul Getty Museum in Los Angeles from August 2 through October 30. In 2023, the exhibition will arrive at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. The curator for the exhibition, Christine Kondoleon, and Kate Nesin, author of Cy Twombly’s Things (2014) and advisor for the show, speak with Gagosian director Mark Francis about the origin of the exhibition and the aesthetic and poetic resonances that give the show its title: Making Past Present.

Cy Twombly, Untitled (Say Goodbye, Catallus, to the Shores of Asia Minor), 1994, oil, acrylic, oil stick, crayon, and graphite on three canvases,

Say Goodbye, Catullus, to the Shores of Asia Minor

Thierry Greub tracks the literary references in Cy Twomblys epic painting of 1994.

Carrie Mae Weems’s The Louvre (2006), on the cover of Gagosian Quarterly, Summer 2021

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Summer 2021

The Summer 2021 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Carrie Mae Weems’s The Louvre (2006) on its cover.

Cy Twombly, Untitled, 1990, acrylic, wax crayon, and pencil on handmade paper, 30 ⅝ × 21 ⅝ inches (77.8 × 54.8 cm)

Twombly and the Poets

Anne Boyer, the inaugural winner of the Cy Twombly Award in Poetry, composes a poem in response to TwomblyAristaeus Mourning the Loss of His Bees (1973) and introduces a portfolio of the painters works accompanied by the poems that inspired them.

Gerhard Richter’s Helen (1963) on the cover of Gagosian Quarterly, Spring 2021

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2021

The Spring 2021 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Gerhard Richter’s Helen (1963) on its cover.