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Cy Twombly — “Each line is now the actual experience with its own innate history. It does not illustrate – it is the sensation of its own realization.” Cy Twombly, 1957
Cy Twombly

“Each line is now the actual experience with its own innate history. It does not illustrate – it is the sensation of its own realization.” Cy Twombly, 1957

Executed in wax crayon, lead pencil, and oil-based house paint on canvas, this work embodies Twombly's radical belief in mark-making as pure, unmediated experience. Loose, gestural scrawls and looping lines accumulate across the surface, each stroke preserving the raw energy and hesitation of the moment it was made. Rather than depicting or illustrating, the work exists as a living record of sensation itself, where process and meaning are inseparable.

Medium
wax crayon, lead pencil, oil based house paint on canvas

🔨 Auction Lot

Contemporary Art Evening Sale

May 14, 2015

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About this work

Cy Twombly, “Each line is now the actual experience with its own innate history. It does not illustrate – it is the sensation of its own realization.” Cy Twombly, 1957

Executed in wax crayon, lead pencil, and oil-based house paint on canvas, this work embodies Twombly's radical belief in mark-making as pure, unmediated experience. Loose, gestural scrawls and looping lines accumulate across the surface, each stroke preserving the raw energy and hesitation of the moment it was made. Rather than depicting or illustrating, the work exists as a living record of sensation itself, where process and meaning are inseparable.

Medium
wax crayon, lead pencil, oil based house paint on canvas
Seen at
Phillips, New York, London, Hong Kong

Related themes

Mark Making, Mid Century Modern, Gestural Mark-Making, Contemplative Mood, Renowned Artist, Male Artist, Expressive Texture, Mixed Media, Celebrated Artist, American Artist, Abstract Expressionism, Calligraphic Mark-Making, Gestural Abstraction, Raw And Primal, Process Art, Raw Textural Quality, Mixed Media On Canvas, Canvas Painting, Neutral Tones, Monochromatic Palette

More works by Cy Twombly

Collected by

David Chen, Rocky Lindt, Art Institute of Chicago, Alex Capecelatro