Together they had a key shaping influence on the art of the twentieth century: musician and theorist John Cage, choreographer and dancer Merce Cunningham, and painters and sculptors Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg, and Cy Twombly. The unique friendships connecting the five artists were marked by collaborative work, intense debate, intimate relationships, and painful separations. In their common search for new forms of expression, they addressed similar issues: technology and progress, silence and chance, tradition and radical innovation. With substantial essays, reproductions of more than 180 artworks, scores, costumes, and archive material, as well as many documentary photographs,this catalog is the first publication to focus on the interdisciplinary practice of these five friends. English edition.

Exhibition "Fünf Freunde", Museum Brandhorst, Munich, April 10-August 17, 2025. Museum Ludwig, Cologne, October 3, 2025-January 11, 2026.