American · Abstract Expressionism

Jackson Pollock

b. 28 January 1912, Cody, Wyoming — d. 11 August 1956, Springs, New York

Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) was the American painter at the center of Abstract Expressionism, famous for poured and dripped 'action paintings' made on canvas laid flat on the floor.

3 works in the collection

Works by Jackson Pollock

Two dark totem-like figures flank a pale central panel crowded with black and colored scribbles, an animal lying below on a deep blue ground — Jackson Pollock, Guardians of the Secret, 1943 — Guardians of the Secret
Jackson Pollock · 1943

A dense all-over web of black, white, pink, gray and silver poured and dripped lines covering the whole canvas — Jackson Pollock, Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist) — Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist)
Jackson Pollock · 1950

A tall field of thick creamy white paint flecked with yellow parts around a jagged black void running down the center — Jackson Pollock, The Deep, 1953 — The Deep
Jackson Pollock · 1953

Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) was an American painter and the best-known figure of Abstract Expressionism. Between 1947 and 1950 he made his famous poured paintings, dripping and flinging liquid paint onto unstretched canvas laid on the floor.

Life in brief

Born in Cody, Wyoming, Pollock grew up in Arizona and California and studied in New York under the Regionalist painter Thomas Hart Benton. In the late 1930s he worked for the Federal Art Project and underwent Jungian psychotherapy, which fed his interest in myth and the unconscious. In 1945 he married the painter Lee Krasner, and the couple moved to Springs, on Long Island, where his barn became the studio for the drip paintings. He struggled with alcoholism throughout his life and died in a car crash in 1956, aged 44. The Museum of Modern Art held a memorial exhibition that December.

Style and technique

Pollock's mature method was physical. Working from all four sides of the canvas, he let paint fall from sticks, stiff brushes and cans, building webs of line with no single focal point, an approach called "all-over" painting. The critic Harold Rosenberg's term "action painting" stuck to him.

Key works in the catalogue

Guardians of the Secret (1943, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art) comes from before the drip years: a dense, totemic picture of two guardian figures flanking a central panel of scribbled signs, shown at his first solo exhibition at Peggy Guggenheim's gallery. The Deep (1953, Centre Pompidou) comes near the end: a creamy white mass split open to reveal a black and red void, one of his last major canvases.

Where to see his work

Major holdings include MoMA and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, SFMOMA, the Centre Pompidou in Paris and Tate in London. The Pollock-Krasner House in Springs preserves his paint-spattered studio floor.

Questions & answers

Why is Jackson Pollock famous?

Pollock is famous for his drip or poured paintings of 1947–50, made by pouring and flinging paint onto canvas laid on the floor. They made him the leading figure of Abstract Expressionism and helped shift the center of modern art from Paris to New York.

How did Jackson Pollock die?

Pollock died on 11 August 1956 in a single-car crash near his home in Springs, New York, while driving under the influence of alcohol. He was 44. A passenger, Edith Metzger, was also killed.

Where is Pollock's The Deep?

The Deep (1953) is in the Centre Pompidou, Musée national d'art moderne, in Paris. It entered the collection in 1976 as a gift from the Menil Foundation and Samuel Wagstaff Jr. and was first shown at the Sidney Janis Gallery in 1954.