Quattro Stagioni II. Inverno 1995

Cy Twombly made *Quattro Stagioni II. Inverno* with paint, and probably pretty quickly too. I love how the color palette revolves around whites, blacks, grays, and just a touch of yellow, bringing in the harshness and starkness of winter. Look at how the paint drips down the canvas, like melting snow or rain. See how thin he applies it in some areas, almost like a wash, and how thick and expressive it is in others, especially in the darker patches. The physicality of the medium is evident, and the marks suggest the artist's gestures – you can almost feel the energy of his hand as he moved across the canvas. That cluster of marks at the bottom left feels like a storm, turbulent and dark, yet there's also something beautiful about it, like how snow transforms a landscape. Twombly reminds me a bit of Joan Mitchell, in that both artists used gesture to translate feeling, emotion, and observation into a very distinct kind of mark. Ultimately, *Quattro Stagioni II. Inverno* is an open-ended conversation, a space where the act of painting meets the experience of winter.