We are very excited to welcome back our friend James Payne, the creator of Great Art Explained, the biggest art history channel on YouTube with over 2 million subscribers and over 60 million views worldwide.

James Payne of Great Art Explained dissects the passions and lives of three American greats: Twombly, Johns, & Rauschenberg

For Thanksgiving, James Payne of Great Art Explained, looks at how the interweaving passions of three American greats: Cy Twombly, Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg, were as interesting as their art.

It is too simple to reduce their artistic innovations to their sexuality. But it is equally misleading to remove sexuality from their story altogether, as many of their biographers have. These were artists who knew what it meant to live with identities that could not always be publicly declared, and they developed art filled with ambiguity: images that reveal something while simultaneously withholding it. Perhaps that is one reason their work still feels so elusive.

Behind some of the most important American art of the twentieth century lies a story not simply of three great artists, but of friendship, intimacy, secrecy and desire.

After the talk, James will be signing copies of his best selling book, Great Art explained.

Photo of James Payne by Rankin.