The Rose (I) 2008

Cy Twombly made The Rose (I) with paint on canvas, though the date is unknown. Look at how the yellow paint drips down from the blooms, creating a kind of gravity in the piece. Twombly's marks are like a dance, a push and pull between intention and letting go. It's all about the process. Now, notice the texture, the way the paint sits on the canvas. It's not trying to hide anything. You can almost see the movement of his hand, the speed of his brushstrokes. The roses themselves are like explosions of color, built up from layers of marks, each one adding to the energy of the whole. And then there's that scribbled writing, floating there like a half-forgotten thought. It's messy, raw, and full of feeling. Twombly reminds me a bit of Joan Mitchell, in how he uses gesture and color to convey emotion. But where Mitchell feels stormy, Twombly is more like a gentle breeze. In the end, it's not about what the rose is, but what it makes you feel.