Cy Twombly Gallery 30th Anniversary
Photo: Lauren Marek
Photo: Peter Molick
Photo: Lauren Marek
Cy Twombly, museum founder Dominique de Menil, and architect Renzo Piano. Photo: Hickey-Robertson
Photo: Paul Hester
Photo: Lauren Marek
The Menil Collection celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Cy Twombly Gallery with special programs about the work and legacy of American artist Cy Twombly (1928–2011). The Cy Twombly Gallery opened in February 1995 and is the only permanent retrospective exhibition of the artist’s work.
Neighborhood Community Day. Photo: Hung Truong
Meredith Monk vocal ensemble. Photo: John Edward Mason
Programs
Artist Book Signing
Why Cy by Tacita Dean
Sunday, February 9, 2025, 11 a.m.
A Conversation with Composer Thomas Adès; Visual Artist Tacita Dean; and Sarah Rothenberg, Artistic Director of DACAMERA
Copresented with DACAMERA
Monday, February 10, 7:30 p.m.
Concert
Meredith Monk with Katie Geissinger and Allison Sniffin in Concert
Thursday, February 27, 7 p.m.
Friday, February 28, 7 p.m.
Lecture
Carol Mancusi-Ungaro on Cy Twombly
Thursday, March 13, 7 p.m.
Lecture
Cy Twombly: Senses of Time
Charles “Mark” Haxthausen, Robert Sterling Clark Professor of Art History Emeritus, Williams College and Menil Drawing Institute Research Fellow
Thursday, March 27, 7 p.m.
Neighborhood Community Day
Saturday, April 5, 2025, 1 p.m.
Curator Talk
Michelle White on Cy Twombly
Sunday, April 13, 2025, 3 p.m.
Installation view of Cy Twombly’s Volubilus, 1953. House paint, oil, crayon, and charcoal on canvas, 55 x 76 in. (139.7 x 193 cm). The Menil Collection, Houston, Gift of the Cy Twombly Foundation in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Cy Twombly Gallery. © Cy Twombly Foundation. Photo: Paul Hester
Cy Twombly, Toilet of Venere, 1988. Collage: (drawing paper, staples), acrylic, wax crayon, pencil, 56 5/16 x 50 in. (143 x 127 cm). The Menil Collection, Houston, Gift of the Cy Twombly Foundation. © Cy Twombly Foundation.
Cy Twombly, Untitled, 1970. Oil paint, wax crayon, 27 9/16 x 34 ½ in. (70 x 87,6 cm). The Menil Collection, Houston, Gift of the Cy Twombly Foundation. © Cy Twombly Foundation.
Cy Twombly, Untitled, 1954. House paint, crayon, and graphite on canvas, 68 ¾ x 86 in. (174.6 x 218.4 cm). The Menil Collection, Houston, Gift of the Cy Twombly Foundation in celebration of the 30th anniversary of the Cy Twombly Gallery. © Cy Twombly Foundation. Photo: Adam Neese and Paul Hester
Cy Twombly, Scent of Madness, 1986. Watercolor, 19 11/16 x 14 ¼ in. (50 x 36.2 cm). The Menil Collection, Houston, Gift of the Cy Twombly Foundation. © Cy Twombly Foundation.
Cy Twombly, Study for Treatise of the Veil, 1970. Collage: (drawing paper, transparent adhesive tape), pencil, wax crayon, colored pencil, 27 ¾ x 39 3/8 in. (70,5 x 100 cm). The Menil Collection, Houston, Gift of the Cy Twombly Foundation. © Cy Twombly Foundation
Major Gifts of Paintings and Drawings from the Cy Twombly Foundation
Honoring the 30th anniversary of the Menil’s Cy Twombly Gallery, gifts of two paintings and 121 drawings from the Cy Twombly Foundation recognize the museum as a leading institution for the display and study of Twombly’s art and legacy.
Cover of Why Cy by Tacita Dean.
Special Products
Available at the Menil Bookstore and online, is Why Cy, an artist book by Tacita Dean. The publication is filled with hypnotic and colorful images and a small booklet of notes and drawings conceived by the artist during a residency at the Twombly Gallery and in response to the gestural and linear exuberance of the paintings on view by the late American artist. Copublished by the Menil and MACK, the publication also coincides with the exhibition Tacita Dean: Blind Folly
Also available at the Menil Bookstore and online, is a green baseball cap celebrating the 30th anniversary of the Cy Twombly Gallery. The color references the room of untitled works, known as the “Green Paintings.” The style of the hat is a nod to the artist’s name. Edwin Parker Twombly was universally known as “Cy” after his father, a lifelong athlete who pitched for the Chicago White Sox in 1921.