Cy Twombly's sculptures, much like his paintings, are deeply infused with references to literature, mythology, and the ancient past, making them compelling objects of study for both their physical and thematic depth. Throughout his career, Twombly employed a consistent methodology in his sculptural practice, frequently assembling found materials—ranging from the mundane to the historically significant—into poetic forms that evoke narratives and landscapes steeped in antiquity. These assemblages, often modest in scale, were unified and transformed through the application of white paint, which Twombly referred to as his "marble." This practice not only linked his work to the traditions of Egyptian, Greek, and Roman sculpture but also served to obscure the origins of the assembled materials, creating a new, coherent whole​ (TheCollector)​.

Twombly's sculptures are recognized for their allusions to funerary culture, the natural world, and architectural forms, incorporating elements like dried flowers, plastic leaves, and inscribed poetic fragments that underscore their thematic connections to life, decay, and memory. For instance, sculptures like "Thicket" and "Thermopylae" incorporate organic and faux-organic materials to evoke the cycles of nature and the presence of vegetation around ancient ruins, while works like "Scent of a Rose" use color and form to suggest the essence of the floral without direct representation​ (TheCollector)​.

In the later stages of his career, Twombly began casting some of his sculptures in bronze, a process that further abstracted his assemblages into objects resembling archeological treasures. This transition from ephemeral materials to bronze not only immortalized the temporal and fragile nature of his original compositions but also embedded within these sculptures a layer of historical permanence and significance​ (Gagosian)​.

Twombly's engagement with sculpture was not merely an extension of his painting but a parallel exploration of form, material, and motif that enriched his broader artistic inquiry into the resonance of the classical world in contemporary culture. His sculptures, like his paintings, are marked by a profound engagement with the themes of memory, history, and the transience of human endeavor, articulated through a visual language that is as idiosyncratic as it is evocative​ (MoMA)​​ (Philadelphia Museum of Art)​.

The thematic richness and formal innovation of Twombly's sculptures underscore his unique position in contemporary art, navigating the boundaries between the abstract and the representational, the ancient and the modern, the ephemeral and the eternal. Through these works, Twombly invites viewers into a contemplative dialogue with the past, mediated by the tactile and visual qualities of his chosen materials and the haunting, often elusive, symbolism of his artistic vocabulary.