Cy Twomblys new permanent work for the Louvre, The Ceiling, may surprise followers of his work. With its vast swathe of Mediterranean blues, inscribed with the names of seven ancient Greek sculptors and ringed with spheres or shields in navy, ocher, silver, and ivory, the 4,300-square-foot ceiling painting is not exactly what springs to mind when one thinks of the 82-year-old American painter, who is famed for his lyrical graffiti and calligraphic abstractions.

At a February preview, when the room was still shrouded in scaffolding, the expanse of blue seemed even more blatantly shocking — at least one French art critic present immediately rejected the piece — but at its March 23 inauguration in the Sully Wing’s Salle des Bronzes, The Ceiling blended well with the light-flooded rectangular room, which features marbled and gilded columns and ancient Greek and Roman bronze statues, figures, artifacts, and armor.

Twombly, who was the subject of a ecstatically-received retrospective at Tate Modern in 2008, is the first American and only the third contemporary artist — after Anselm Kiefer and François Morellet — to be asked to create a permanent work for the Louvre. Past artists who have been provided the honor include Delacroix, Le Brun, Ingrès, and Braque (Twombly’s favorite), whose ceiling panels of white-silhouetted doves on a midnight blue background is in the room next door.

Although the invitation read 11h30 précis, as the French put it when they mean be on time, Culture Minister Frédéric Mitterrand arrived very, very late. But, praising the ceiling for “bringing the sky into the Louvre,” he compensated with a surprise of his own, awarding Twombly the French Legion of Honor before an audience of luminaries that included Louvre director Henri Loyrette, Centre Pompidou director Alfred Pacquement, MoMA director Glenn D. Lowry (who had flown in from New York), Louis Vuitton Foundation for Creation director Suzanne Page, gallerist Yvon Lambert, art historian Diana Picasso, and British art collector Janet Wolfson de Botton, who offered early support to the project.

“I couldn’t think of a better project,” said the discreetly chic de Botton, long a collector and admirer of Twombly’s work. Her foundation had helped finance the €1.2 million ($1.6 million) piece with support from the Gagosian Gallery. “When I met Cy for the first time at Tate Modern, he said, ‘I have an idea. I’m going to put your husband’s name on a satellite,’"  de Botton recalled. "Look up.” There, etched around the perimeter of a platinum planet reads "à la memoire de Gilbert de Botton." A heavenly tribute, indeed.