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Cy Twombly

Orion III (New York City), 1968

Information about the artwork

  • Translated titleOrion III (New York)
  • MaterialEmulsion paint, crayon, and pencil on canvas
  • Dimensions172.5 x 216 cm
  • Year of acquisition1974
  • Inventory numberUAB 447
  • On viewOn view
  • CopyrightCy Twombly Foundation
    Photo: Haydar Koyupinar, Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen, Museum Brandhorst, Munich

More about the artwork

Twombly studied astronomy in depth and produced several works with cosmic themes in the late 1960s. Among these was a series of untitled paintings showing spiral loops and infinity signs against a black background. The lines look like abstract trajectories of an object orbiting in space. Some of the paintings are inspired by illustrations from scientific journals. Orion III (New York City) refers to a NASA endeavor: “Project Orion” was the name of the nuclear pulse propulsion study designed to shoot a rocket into space with the help of several explosions. The circles in the picture mark the thrust moments created by the nuclear explosions. Twombly’s reference to antiquity—the constellation Orion is named after a hunter in Greek mythology—appears in this context as an allusion to the US-Soviet arms race. The spaceship in Stanley Kubrick’s film 2001: A Space Odyssey, which was released around at the same time, also bears the name Orion.

Further artworks

Artwork: "Interior (Rome)" from Cy Twombly
Cy Twombly Interior (Rome), 2003
Artwork: "Lepanto I" from Cy Twombly
Cy Twombly Lepanto I, 2001
Artwork: "All Thumbs" from Bruce Nauman
Bruce Nauman All Thumbs, 1996
Artwork: "Untitled (Subway Drawing)" from Keith Haring
Keith Haring Untitled (Subway Drawing), 1983
Artwork: "Untitled (Roses)" from Cy Twombly
Cy Twombly Untitled (Roses), 2008
Artwork: "Ohne Titel" from Rosemarie Trockel
Rosemarie Trockel Ohne Titel, 1983
Artwork: "Civilian" from Louise Lawler
Louise Lawler Civilian, 2010
Artwork: "Untitled" from Keith Haring
Keith Haring Untitled, 1981
Artwork: "C-A-N-V-A-S Painting 8" from Michael Krebber
Michael Krebber C-A-N-V-A-S Painting 8, 2011