Cy Twombly's Peony Blossom Paintings, a series of six large-scale works completed during the early winter of 2007 in his studio in Gaeta, central Italy, represent a significant exploration of floral motifs in Twombly's oeuvre. These paintings, measuring 252 x 552 cm each, were executed using acrylic, wax crayon, and pencil, underscoring Twombly's signature style that integrates abstract expressionism with elements of graffiti and poetic inscription (www.wikiart.org).
Twombly's fascination with peonies and their rich symbolic heritage is evident in these works. The peony, a flower with deep roots in both Eastern and Western cultural traditions, embodies themes of beauty, fragility, and the transient nature of existence. In Greek mythology, the peony is associated with Paeon, a pupil of Asclepius, the god of medicine and healing, who was transformed into a peony flower by Zeus to save him from Asclepius's wrath. Additionally, the peony holds significance in Chinese culture as a symbol of royalty and in Japanese culture as an imperial emblem, often featured in art, particularly during the Edo period (1603-1868). Twombly's incorporation of haikus in some of the paintings further emphasizes the peony's cultural resonance, particularly in a Japanese context, aligning the series with the proportions of traditional Japanese screens (www.wikiart.org).
The Peony Blossom Paintings were first exhibited in 2007 as part of the show "Blooming: A Scattering of Blossom and Other Things" in Avignon, France. These works, conceived late in Twombly's career, demonstrate his enduring interest in the natural world and his capacity to convey complex emotional and historical narratives through the medium of paint. Three out of the six canvases incorporate written text, mostly haikus, which, along with the expressive use of color and form, serve to accentuate the thematic focus on blooming and decay (www.wikiart.org).
The series is notable for its allusion to Japonisme and its reflection on the themes of love, violence, and the beauty of nature, as indicated by Twombly's inscriptions that cite translations and fragments of Japanese haiku poetry. This thematic depth is complemented by the technical aspects of Twombly's work, such as his application of color and his distinctive, gestural brushwork. The paintings' execution, with rosettes rendered in dark saturated greens over a light green wash and then overpainted with white, creates an effect of melting or dissolving flowers, encapsulating the cycle of flourishing and withering (The Art Institute of Chicago).
Twombly's Peony Blossom Paintings, like his other floral series, draw upon the artist's deep engagement with history, literature, and the symbolism of flowers to explore themes of memory, time, and the sensory experience of the natural world. These works, through their scale, composition, and thematic richness, offer a poignant reflection on the beauty and transience of life (DocsLib).