David Foster reviews the exhibition Twombly and Poussin: Arcadian Painters on view at the Dulwich Picture Gallery through September 25, 2011.

In his detailed review Foster writes that although "The show is not without its faults … there are some unlikely and provocative juxtapositions that, on reflection, are remarkably effective. The pairing of Poussin's preparatory study for Joshua's Victory over the Amonites – a dense and chaotic tangle of surging bodies – with two of Twombly's untitled pieces of frenzied, illegible scrawl, works to bring out the frantic energy of the former, and emphasises the senselessness and violence in the latter.