The nine-room Cy Twombly Gallery opened in February 1995 and houses the only permanent retrospective exhibition of the artist’s work.

Cy Twombly, along with Italian architect Renzo Piano, who had completed the Menil’s main building seven years earlier, worked closely on a simple architectural design based on the artist’s sketches that thoughtfully holds the works of art and responds to the surrounding neighborhood of bungalows and green spaces. Based on classical symmetry, the architectural elements produce a diffused natural lighting inspired by the Mediterranean. Unpainted plaster walls soften the overhead light, and the ceiling is distinguished by a floating roof of glass and a taut sail-like canopy below layers of filtration that dampen the Texas sun. Natural and local materials—concrete blocks made in San Antonio, sandstone quarried in Central Texas, and wide planks of white oak—were selected.

Twombly selected the artworks and arranged the galleries, wanting each to have a shared “emotional and atmospheric” quality. Piano used the poetic image of “a butterfly alighting on a firm surface” to describe how the gallery is a balance of delicacy and strength.

To inaugurate the celebration, the Menil will host a book signing with artist Tacita Dean on February 9. Her book, titled Why Cy, stems from a night she spent alone in the Cy Twombly Gallery in early 2024 and is filled with hypnotic and colorful photographs that she took in response to the gestural and linear exuberance of the paintings on view. Dean’s exhibition Tacita Dean: Blind Folly, currently on view at the Menil and curated by Michelle White, Senior Curator, features a number of new works inspired by her time in Houston, as well as her friendship with Twombly at the end of his life. This includes a film portrait of Twombly and a series of photographs Dean took of the artist’s studio in Italy. She will also participate in a conversation with composer Thomas Adès, and Sarah Rothenberg, Artistic Director of DACAMERA, on February 10. Other anniversary events include a special two-night performance by Meredith Monk and her vocal ensemble; talks with scholars, conservators, and curators; and a Neighborhood Community Day.

CALENDAR OF EVENTS

30th anniversary of the Cy Twombly Gallery
February 9 – April 13, 2025
The Menil Collection, Houston

Artist Book Signing
Why Cy by Tacita Dean
Sunday, February 9, 11 a.m.

Conversation
Composer Thomas Adès; Visual Artist Tacita Dean; and Sarah Rothenberg, Artistic Director of DACAMERA
Copresented with DACAMERA
Monday, February 10, 7:30 p.m.

Concert
Meredith Monk with Katie Geissinger and Allison Sniffin in Concert
Thursday, February 27, 7 p.m.
Friday, February 28, 7 p.m.

Lectures
Carol Mancusi-Ungaro on Cy Twombly
Thursday, March 13, 7 p.m.
Cy Twombly: Senses of Time

Charles “Mark” Haxthausen, Robert Sterling Clark Professor of Art History Emeritus, Williams College and Menil Drawing Institute Research Fellow
Thursday, March 27, 7 p.m.

Neighborhood Community Day
Saturday, April 5, 2025, 1 p.m.

Curator Talk
Michelle White on Cy Twombly
Sunday, April 13, 3 p.m.

For further information:
The Menil Collection, Houston
menil.org