Hero and Leandro (A Painting in Four Parts) Part I - Cy Twombly

A powerful abstract composition by Cy Twombly, part of his 1985 series exploring the myth of Hero and Leander through gestural marks and emotive colour.

Cy Twombly produced the series Hero and Leandro in 1985, drawing inspiration from the classical Greek myth of the two lovers separated by the Hellespont. This work, the first in the four-part cycle, demonstrates the artist's characteristic fusion of gestural mark-making and literary allusion. The composition is dominated by a sense of movement, where thick, impasto applications of paint in shades of crimson, dark green, and charcoal collide with expansive areas of negative space.

Twombly employs a distinct calligraphic style, where scribbled lines and faint graphite notations suggest the presence of language without adhering to traditional legibility. The surface of the canvas acts as a site for physical action, with layers of pigment applied and partially obscured to create a sense of temporal depth. The colour palette is restrained yet emotive, using the contrast between the dark, turbulent lower section and the pale, atmospheric upper reaches to evoke the churning waters of the mythic strait.

Unlike his earlier, more sparse works, this piece engages with a heavier application of material, reflecting a shift in his practice during the 1980s. The work avoids literal representation, opting instead to capture the psychological weight of the narrative through rhythm and texture. The viewer is invited to navigate the surface, tracing the erratic paths of the oil stick and the sweeping brushstrokes that define the visual field. By referencing the tragic tale of Hero and Leander, Twombly connects his abstract vocabulary to the long history of Western mythology, treating the canvas as a space where ancient themes are reinterpreted through a modern, subjective lens. This print captures the tactile quality of the original, preserving the tension between the chaotic application of paint and the deliberate, delicate inscriptions that hover across the surface.