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Thursday 4 December 2008

Traces of self

Cy Twombly: Cycles and Seasons
Tate Modern, until 14 September

He says he’s not primarily interested in colour, but ‘in creating intuitive or emotional form’. The instinctual approach is far more important to him than rational structure, yet Twombly has a way of organising his imagery which presents it to its very best advantage. (He has a superb instinct for placement.) Look, for instance, at ‘Hero and Leandro’ (1981–4) in Room 9. This marvellous wave painting unfolds over three canvases and then culminates in a drawing on graph paper, which incorporates a Keats quote. Twombly breaks the rules all the time, or rather makes his own rules, mixing painting and drawing, parodying Tiepolo in his green, algal paintings, or reverentially echoing Poussin in his two cycles of ‘Four Seasons’. The last room contains three bright vermilion paintings from 2005 on the theme of Bacchus: frenetic, deliquescing, yet unmistakeably magisterial. A glorious finale.

It’s not often that I find large exhibitions at the Tate uplifting, but this time I did. The show has been very well installed. There are more than 100 exhibits and for once there didn’t seem too many, nor did these often lacklustre galleries seem wearisome. Twombly brings them alive.

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