Nine Discourses on Commodus, Part I 1963

Cy Twombly made this painting, titled ‘Nine Discourses on Commodus, Part I’, probably with paint, but also pencil, crayon, or something. I imagine him there, making marks, stepping back, adding a grid, smearing the paint, and maybe scratching into it. A push and pull between control and chance. What's so amazing is how all these gestures create a space where you can feel the artist thinking, almost like reading his mind. The painting is so light, so airy. It's kind of like he's building up layers of feeling, you know? Like those soft, blurred lines, like a whisper, while the grid gives a sense of structure. He's showing you the struggle to capture something, a thought, a feeling, and it doesn't quite fit. Twombly's like a poet, using paint instead of words, leaving space for us to bring our own stories to the mix. We're all in this together, figuring things out, one mark, one thought, at a time.