Untitled (from the series “Chalkboard”)

The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the USA.

Oil paint, wax pencil, canvas.

The repeating rhythmic pattern on the canvas is very similar to a blackboard, on which children practice calligraphy. However, unlike school exercises, the lines in the picture by Twombly are not converted into words or numbers but remain separately existing, not denoting the elements of the overall composition. The uniqueness of the paintings from the Chalkboard series is that the artist did not try to convey some secret meaning with this drawing but simply expressed the mental and physical energy that always accompanies the writing process. Twombly came up with the idea of ​​creating a work based not on the image but drawing process itself, when he looked through the notes of Leonardo to Vinci, completely covered with intricate signs and icons, the meaning of which scientists still unravel.