Cy Twombly Foundation donates $39.5M in artworks to Galleria Nazionale di Roma

The Cy Twombly Foundation has donated twelve artworks valued at $39.5 million (€33.7 million) to the Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Moderna e Contemporanea (GNAM) in Rome, along with an additional $3 million for technical infrastructure and a master's program. The donation agreement was signed on June 11, 2025, by GNAM director Renata Cristina Mazzantini and Cy Twombly Foundation president Nicola Del Roscio, and made public later. The donation includes eleven works by Cy Twombly and a pastel on paper by Pablo Picasso, Nu Debout (1906), from his Rose Period. The Twombly works, created mainly in Rome between 1957 and 1963, will be housed in a permanent room dedicated to the artist. Among them is Untitled (1959-1961), a large painting (197.5 x 234.8 cm) combining pencil, oil, and wax crayon on canvas. Additionally, $1.475 million will renovate the museum's restoration laboratory, which will be named after Twombly, including equipment upgrades and safety measures. Another $1.475 million will fund a specialized master's degree in paper conservation, in collaboration with an accredited educational institution recognized by the Italian Ministry of Education, lasting at least fifteen years with scholarships and an annual event. The goal is to make GNAM a reference center for contemporary art on paper conservation.