US painter Cy Twombly dead at 83

Jul 6, 2011, 13:13 GMT

New York - The US painter and sculptor Cy Twombly, known for his large, scribbled paintings, died Tuesday at 83 in Rome, The New York Times reported.

Twombly was considered one of the most influential contemporary American artists. Last year, he was given an honour that only two other contemporary artists have ever received - a commission to paint part of the ceiling of the Louvre in Paris.

Twombly's free, graffiti-like scribbling with whirlwinds, drips and scratches punctuated by fragments of classical verse put him out of step with other US greats such as Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg.

His decision to settle permanently in southern Italy in 1957 'as the art world shifted decisively in the other direction, from Europe to New York, was only the most symbolic of his idiosyncrasies,' The Times wrote.

Along with his lifelong friend Rauschenberg, Twombly travelled as a young man through the southern US states and to Europe and Morocco.

His last large work, the 400 square metres he painted in the Louvre, was atypical of his work: a deep blue sky with large whirls in yellow, ochre, white and blue. The title of that work: The Ceiling.