Leda And The Swan Analysis

Abstract Expressionism refers to a post-World War II art movement that flourished in New York City in the mid-1940s. The climate of Cold War politics and sociocultural conservatism led many artists to start the movement fitted to a post-war mood of anxiety and trauma. These artists resisted being defined by a cohesive, binding style; instead, they shared an interest in using abstraction to convey strong emotional or expressive content. Much of their work was non-representational and was more focused on the usage of color, technique and form. Cy Twombly, an American artist whose work emerged in 1950s Europe, was one such abstractionist. Many of his works were reflections on, responses to, and re-workings of the ancient Greco-Roman histories that surrounded him. In 1962, he created a cycle of paintings based on the Greek myth Leda and the Swan. The most renowned and intense of these paintings is on view in New York’s The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Unlike other artistic renditions of the myth- such as W.B. Yeats’ Leda and the Swan- the painting bypasses representation. It instead relies on Twombly’s unique artistic form and content to suggest to viewers the underlying narratives of the

It is confusing, confounding, and captivating. Leda and the Swan is the epitome of Twombly’s ability to assume the role of his subject through Abstract Expressionist art. A reading of the work on the same myth by W.B. Yeats proves that art is, albeit subjective, universally felt. Both artists managed to make of Leda’s plight in disparate but equally powerful ways. Where Yeats relied on the literal translation of words, Twombly communicated anguish through mayhem and havoc. His piece, presented to intentionally ambush viewers, is eminent of his belief that strong representation is not needed to evoke universal themes of sadness, struggle, and helplessness. Twombly perhaps says it best himself: “the meaning of the work is in the doing of it” (Ulaby,