by Cy Twombly
Learn more from on the Philadelphia Art Museum's page
Location: Second Floor, Gallery 284 (On the second floor, walk through the European Art 1850-1900 Impressionism wing and turn right into the Modern & Contemporary Art section and continue to the end of the building. When you enter Gallery 280, turn left to find Gallery 284.)
To get to this gallery, you have already passed through many other Modern & Contemporary Art galleries. Pause as you enter the vestibule of the main gallery. You'll be looking for this image:
Pause before entering the main gallery.
Two styles and stories seem to collide in this collection of 10 paintings (the first of which you're looking at now!): the playful and childlike shapes and colors with the Greek classic The Illiad.
Do you have any memories and previous memorable experiences with this ancient Greek story? Do any of these words or names catch your eye?
Trojan War
Homer
Achilles
Athena
Diomedes
Zeus
Poseidon
Hector
What stands out from your memories related to The Illiad? This is the second step of FIMS: IMPACT - singling out what stands out for you. For some of us we may vividly recall the epic poem; for others we may only recognize a few of the names in the list above as some sort of Greek god or goddess.
Enter the main gallery and consider each of the additional nine artworks in the room. Let the individual pieces draw you in, draw you toward them.
After considering the pieces that strike you the most (IMPACT!), return to the first piece and take in each work in clockwise order (starting with the first on the left after you enter and ending with the last on the right).
If these questions help, consider:
What shapes do you see?
What colors do you see?
What letters/words do you see?
After spending time with each panel, take in the whole of the space of the room. How does the curation of this series of pieces strike you in this particular space?
What is the story you might tell based on the visuals you have identified?
The epic poem The Illiad remains a cultural touchstone in the Western ELA tradition. Twombly created these 10 panels in response to Alexander Pope's translation of the work (which, as German philosopher Martin Heidegger notes "translation is always already interpretation", could also be considered a type of response to the Homeric original).
How would or how do you teach The Illiad?
How might Twombly's Fifty Days at IIiam contribute to telling the story of The Illiad?