American artist Cy Twombly has died in Rome. He was seen as one of the most important figures in American art of the late 20th century.
The BBC reports Twombly, 83, achieved fame late in his career. He spent much of his life in Italy.
He was widely known for abstract works that used oil paint, pencil and crayon to create repetitive lines and scribbles on canvas.
Twombly also painted a ceiling in the Louvre museum in Paris in 2010.
Born in Virginia in 1928, Twombly studied in New York when abstract expressionism was at its height.
In 1957, he moved from America to Rome where his work began to reflect his new environment and intellectual passions.
The light and landscape of the Mediterranean, poetry, history and mythology all became frequent motifs of his art.
He added words and verse into his paintings with graffiti-like scribbles which became a hallmark of his work.
