Cy Twombly, exhibition review: Teeming with energy

This show powerfully reminds us Cy Twombly was a painter of pure, poetic passion, says Ben Luke
Overwhelming and dizzying: Bacchus, made just before the artist's death
Gagosian Gallery
Ben Luke19 October 2015

Like several of the other galleries that Larry Gagosian has opened worldwide, this latest addition to his empire opens with work by the late Cy Twombly. The third Gagosian in London, it is a beautiful space, designed by Caruso St John.

The works are from different periods. A series of large drawings relate to Twombly’s Bolsena paintings of 1969, made in an explosive period of creativity in a palazzo on Lake Bolsena, between Rome and Florence. Amid flurries of scratchy marks, sudden exhilarating bursts of colour and phallic forms, are scrawled calculations relating to the moon landings which happened days before Twombly made these works. They teem with energy and experiment.

It’s testament to Twombly’s longevity that the same, visceral verve is there in his Bacchus paintings made just before his death. They’re painted in red over ochre, the colour of blood over flesh and of the wine that stoked bacchanalian excesses in Roman myth, and they’re overwhelming, dizzying.

Two much cooler diptychs are nearby, featuring clusters of purple marks over white grounds. But beneath the surfaces are networks of red lines, like veins.

Latest exhibition reviews

1/16

Twombly, this show powerfully reminds us, was a painter of pure, poetic passion.

Until December 12 (020 7495 1500, gagosian.com)

Follow Going Out on Facebook and on Twitter @ESgoingout

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in