Proteus 1984

This is Cy Twombly’s ‘Proteus’, made in 1984 using paint, crayon, and graphite on paper. Look at the loose, gestural marks and the way the colors merge and bleed into one another, hovering in a liminal space. I can imagine Twombly, brush in hand, circling the page. The energy is palpable. It’s like he’s conjuring a vision rather than depicting something literal. There is a feeling of emergence, as though the image is forming itself through layers of color and line. I love how the scribble of red and pink paint coalesces into a blooming, almost floral shape. The texture created by the layering of the paint gives the piece a haptic quality. Twombly's work always reminds me that painting is an ongoing conversation. Each gesture, each mark, is a response to what came before, a way of engaging with the history of painting while pushing it forward. It's this sense of play, this embrace of uncertainty, that makes his work so enduring.