Original oil painting on card board - mixed media. Cy Twombly (1928-2011) was one of the greats of 20th century art. He is remembered for his signature energetic scribbles, his simultaneously wild and spare canvases, and his bold digression from the general tendencies of American postwar abstraction. Though a contemporary and close friend of Robert Rauschenberg and Jasper Johns, Twombly was less in the spotlight, and his art harder to digest for most people. He spent most of his life living and working in Italy, inspired by the history, the landscape and the culture. Fitting with Twombly's obsession with the past, he fell in love with Italy and its rich ancient classical culture, Renaissance and Baroque heritage that intersected there with contemporary life. In 1957, he moved to Rome, where he felt the freedom he needed to break with the stifling influence of the New York art scene. After his move to Italy, Twombly started introducing color to his work, creating energetic artworks inspired by Roman and Italian mythology, history, and art.