Cy Twombly "The Ceiling" photo: Bob Bishop

Twombly, known for his calligraphic-graffiti like freely scribbled paintings, follows two other contemporary artists at the Louvre: Francois Morellet (French) and Anselm Kiefer (German).  Twombly's "Ceiling" painted deep blue and adorned with disk shapes and names of ancient Greek sculptors, is situated next to a room decorated in the 50's by the artist Georges Braque.

The Virginia-born artist who lives in Italy said he was inspired by the blue of early Italian Renaissance artist Giotto. "I was just thinking of the blue with the disks on it, it's totally abstract ... I put all the great Greek sculptors' names on the top. It's that simple," Twombly told The Associated Press.