Cy Twombly, Gagosian Gallery, review: Twombly’s notes and scribbles are almost sublime

Larry Gagosian’s long anticipated new gallery in the West End of London, a total renovation by the architectural firm Caruso St John, whose recent projects include Nottingham Contemporary and Damien Hirst’s new gallery in Vauxhall, is a surprisingly polite addition to Mayfair.

Entering into a traditional foyer, one’s attention is drawn to the dramatic dark wooden floor, far from the polished concrete that has been the recent mark of the trendy gallery. Director Gary Waterston points out that the space was not a new build, but a dramatic restoration of an unloved 1960s building, formerly inhabited by estate agents.

Exterior architect TateHindle have reclad it, punched large windows into the facade and removed a floor creating a lofty but not overwhelming space. Internally, Caruso St John have left lighting to a minimum, contained in what looks like light boxes – equipped to react to outside light conditions and to be flexible to fulfil the artists’ desires.

Larry Gagosian has chosen to open with an exhibition by the late Cy Twombly. Britannia Street, his large King’s Cross space, was also opened with Twombly, as were his Rome, Paris and Athens spaces. Most of the works are not for sale, but are on loan from private collections and the Twombly Foundation; the only saleable items being the Twombly photographs in the smaller nearby Mayfair Gallery. Gagosian has therefore given London the chance to see a group of drawings, sketchbooks and, perhaps most excitingly, previously unseen paintings.

The drawings from 1969, 16 from a set of 22, are insights into the workings of the mind of this prodigiously talented artist. Writing, scribbles, small notes, measurements and objects, often sexual in nature, are grouped in varying structures in these fascinating drawings.

Although best known as a painter, Twombly was also a sculptor. He often used found objects from the studio, manipulating them through juxtaposition and paint. A bright yellow work cheerily greets the visitor. Upon closer inspection, what seems to be a plastic upturned box, a plank of wood and some discarded tools, are actually bronzed, coloured and turned into the 21st-century equivalent of Rodin’s The Thinker. Several other bronzes punctuate the space, supporting the claim that Twombly was every bit as good a sculptor as he was a painter.

The sublime two blue diptychs from 2007 are worth the visit alone. Twombly’s writing, often seen in his paintings and in the earlier drawings, here has been isolated. Done shortly before his death in 2011, there is a poignancy in the detached writing alongside the dripping paintings that shows an increasing emptying out.

Juxtaposed alongside the earlier exuberant drawings, which seem to be working out questions, here are resolved meditative solutions. Caruso St John’s minimal rooms provide the perfect environment for these masterpieces. This is a welcome new oasis in the middle of the teeming West End.

Gagosian Gallery, 20 Grosvenor Hill, London W1 (www.gagosian.com) until 12 December ​