Cy Twombly
1928-2011 · American · Abstract Expressionism, Post-war abstraction
Auction record: $70.53M
Untitled (New York City), 1968 · Sotheby's, New York · Nov 11, 2015
Source: heni.com
Biography
Cy Twombly, born in Lexington, Virginia, studied at Black Mountain College with Rauschenberg and moved to Rome in 1957, where he lived for most of his life. His art fuses writing and painting: scribbled lines, erased words, numbers and fragments of classical poetry evoke Mediterranean myth, history and desire. Key groups include the grey blackboard paintings of 1966 to 1971, the Fifty Days at Iliam cycle in Philadelphia, the ceiling of the Louvre's Salle des Bronzes and the late Bacchus and Roses series. Twombly sits in the top tier of the post-war market. Blackboards and major Rome paintings of the early 1960s fetch tens of millions, while drawings, prints and photographs give the market depth.
Recent auction results
| Untitled (1970)Christie's, New York | $540K | May 21, 2026 | heni.com |
|---|---|---|---|
| Untitled (1961)Christie's, New York | $45.48M | May 18, 2026 | heni.com |
Market
- Liquidity: High
Museums
- The Menil Collection (Cy Twombly Gallery), Houston
- Philadelphia Museum of Art
- Museum of Modern Art, New York
- Musée du Louvre, Parigi
- Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea, Roma
Sources
- HENI News, record Untitled (New York City)
- HENI News, Christie's 20th Century Evening Sale maggio 2026
- HENI News, profilo Cy Twombly
- Wikipedia, List of most expensive paintings
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