The internationally renowned American artist Cy Twombly died on July 5 in Rome, where he spent much of his time since the 1950s. He was 83.

Along with Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, Twombly was considered to be one of the three most important American artists to emerge out of the 1950s.

His work ascended in the art world in his late career, eventually bringing in the millions of dollars.

In the mid-1990s, New York's Museum of Modern Art organized a traveling retrospective of his work, and he became represented at major museums with permanent displays, including the Philadelphia Museum of Art and the Menil Collection in Houston. One of his last accomplishments was a gallery of bronze sculpture and a ceiling painting at the Louvre.

Among his awards, in 2001 Twombly received the Golden Lion at the 49th Venice Biennale. In 2010 he was made Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur by the French government.