Ferragosto IV 1961

Cy Twombly made this painting, "Ferragosto IV", and just look at this feverish energy across the canvas. I can imagine him dancing around the canvas, lost in thought, furiously splattering color and line – red, brown, some navy and touches of pale blue. I sympathize with the artist, trying to imagine what it must have felt like to make this – the physicality of the act. The canvas is filled with all these marks and gestures, it's all there in the wrist, the shoulder, the body leaning in. Those long smears of red paint at the bottom almost feel like an upskirt view, like figures reclining on the grass. What was Twombly thinking when he made this? Was he remembering a hot summer day, a fleeting moment of joy or lust? Twombly was definitely in conversation with the Abstract Expressionists, like Pollock or de Kooning, and with the old masters, all those layers of art history feeding into his unique vision. It's an ongoing exchange of ideas across time, isn’t it? This is what painting is all about.