This monograph was published on the occasion of the collaboration between the Nobel Prize winning poet and the artist, which resulted from a dinner party hosted by the artist and Tatiana Franchetti Twombly. In a brief text accompanying the publication, Udo Brandhorst describes the circumstances under which the collaboration emerged, as the artist agreed to have Brandhorst publish his Gaeta Set (For The Love of Fire and Water) (1981) in a single volume; Brandhorst subsequently invited Paz to select poems to accompany the artworks.

Paz ultimately selected eight of his poems for inclusion: “‘El día abre la mano…’,” “Fabula,” “Ejemplo,” “Eje,” “Dos en Uno,” “Piedra Nativa,” “Las Armas del Verano,” and “‘Fuego dormido en la noche…’” Brandhorst notes Twombly’s satisfaction with the outcome of the collaboration, writing that “[j]oy rang in his voice when he announced that reading them one could not be certain whether it was Paz’s poetry that inspired his Gaeta Set, or else that his drawings inspired Paz’s poems.” The monograph is comprised of a series of reproductions, typically with the poems and drawings on facing pages, though a three of the drawings are reproduced alone. Other than Brandhorst’s brief entry, there is no accompanying discursive text.

This text was published in an edition of one thousand numbered copies. Copies 1/100–100/100 are signed and numbered by Octavio Paz and Cy Twombly. The original Spanish text is supplemented by English and German translations.

This text will primarily be of interest to scholars seeking a record of the collaboration itself. Scholars may also consult the following related texts: Cy Twombly—Octavio Paz, published by the Kunstmuseum Bonn (1993) and Demosthenes Davvetas, “The Erography of Cy Twombly” (1989).

(Publication description by Jamie Danis)

Octavio Paz, Eight Poems, Cy Twombly, Ten Drawings. Text by Udo Brandhorst. Published in 1993 by Udo and Anette Brandhorst, Köln.