Jackson POLLOCK (1912-1956)
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : Abstract art II Art on paper
Chronology : 1940-1949 1946 1948 1949 1950 1951
See also : Abstract art II Art on paper
Chronology : 1940-1949 1946 1948 1949 1950 1951
Intro
Jackson Pollock spent his youth in the American West. His heightened creativity retains nothing from the conventional painting. On the contrary, he finds his influences with the Navajo sand figures, the Mexican muralists including Orozco and the automatic writing of French surrealist poets.
Arrived in New York in 1930 at the age of 18, he is attentive to all originalities. He attends a demonstration of the use of liquid paint by Siqueiros and sees Janet Sobel's open patterns covering the entire surface of the image without being altered at the frame.
During an exhibition at the MoMA in 1941, he attended a Navajo sand-picture show that reminded him of his childhood in Wyoming. Creation is a ritual where the original image disappears under the accumulation of layers.
This experience will give him the idea of placing his canvas or paper flat on the floor of his workshop for a better precision of his dissemination of colors. Executing his gestural dance around the work as it goes along, he realizes Malevich's old dream of a re-orientable image in all directions that also gives the illusion of spreading beyond its own limits.
While canceling the figurative, Malevich also wanted to highlight the material. Pollock manages a similar approach.
Treated for his alcoholism by a psychoanalyst close to Jung, he is convinced that the most important is the creative act, so that the artist is quite right to hide his original message when he completes the artwork.
Peggy Guggenheim opens her aptly named Art of this Century gallery in New York in 1942. She is keenly interested in the synthesis of disparate influences practiced by Pollock. He is indeed enough spontaneous and innovative to embody the power and action of the American dream. She sponsors him without being close to him.
In the big city, the artist cannot solve his social problems. His wife Lee Krasner got the brilliant intuition that life in the big city is not conducive to the artistic stimulus of this violent and misanthropic young man. She married him and moved with him at the end of 1945 to a barn with sea sight in Long Island.
Pollock improves his technique throughout 1946, and abandons his stylized figuration. Wanting to work on a hard surface, he uses the masonite. He begins to apply the pigment in impasto directly at the outlet of the tube and gradually gives up the brush. For convenience, he lays on the floor the surface to be painted.
The use of sprayed or flowing liquid paint is made possible by that position of the support. His hand acquires an unprecedented freedom. Pollock's art conveys his subconscious energy, just as Chinese calligraphy is a direct transcription of an artist's emotion. Masson is referred with Miro among Pollock's surrealist influences, but it will be noted that Michaux's automatic drawings were influenced by Chinese calligraphy.
Pollock was one of the most fertile triggers of modern art and his early success is linked to the American dream. The brutal deaths of James Dean, Jackson Pollock and Marilyn Monroe and the horrors of the Vietnam war will end this utopia in which the real gravedigger in art will be Warhol.
Arrived in New York in 1930 at the age of 18, he is attentive to all originalities. He attends a demonstration of the use of liquid paint by Siqueiros and sees Janet Sobel's open patterns covering the entire surface of the image without being altered at the frame.
During an exhibition at the MoMA in 1941, he attended a Navajo sand-picture show that reminded him of his childhood in Wyoming. Creation is a ritual where the original image disappears under the accumulation of layers.
This experience will give him the idea of placing his canvas or paper flat on the floor of his workshop for a better precision of his dissemination of colors. Executing his gestural dance around the work as it goes along, he realizes Malevich's old dream of a re-orientable image in all directions that also gives the illusion of spreading beyond its own limits.
While canceling the figurative, Malevich also wanted to highlight the material. Pollock manages a similar approach.
Treated for his alcoholism by a psychoanalyst close to Jung, he is convinced that the most important is the creative act, so that the artist is quite right to hide his original message when he completes the artwork.
Peggy Guggenheim opens her aptly named Art of this Century gallery in New York in 1942. She is keenly interested in the synthesis of disparate influences practiced by Pollock. He is indeed enough spontaneous and innovative to embody the power and action of the American dream. She sponsors him without being close to him.
In the big city, the artist cannot solve his social problems. His wife Lee Krasner got the brilliant intuition that life in the big city is not conducive to the artistic stimulus of this violent and misanthropic young man. She married him and moved with him at the end of 1945 to a barn with sea sight in Long Island.
Pollock improves his technique throughout 1946, and abandons his stylized figuration. Wanting to work on a hard surface, he uses the masonite. He begins to apply the pigment in impasto directly at the outlet of the tube and gradually gives up the brush. For convenience, he lays on the floor the surface to be painted.
The use of sprayed or flowing liquid paint is made possible by that position of the support. His hand acquires an unprecedented freedom. Pollock's art conveys his subconscious energy, just as Chinese calligraphy is a direct transcription of an artist's emotion. Masson is referred with Miro among Pollock's surrealist influences, but it will be noted that Michaux's automatic drawings were influenced by Chinese calligraphy.
Pollock was one of the most fertile triggers of modern art and his early success is linked to the American dream. The brutal deaths of James Dean, Jackson Pollock and Marilyn Monroe and the horrors of the Vietnam war will end this utopia in which the real gravedigger in art will be Warhol.
Jackson Pollock: Life and Mental Health Struggles
Jackson Pollock (1912–1956) was a pioneering American Abstract Expressionist painter, renowned for his revolutionary drip technique—pouring, splashing, and flinging paint onto large canvases laid on the floor. His life was marked by profound personal turmoil, including lifelong alcoholism, mood instability, and psychological distress, which intersected deeply with his artistic output.
Pollock's mental health issues emerged early. He experienced a troubled childhood with frequent family moves and feelings of neglect. By his teens, he was drinking heavily, and as an adult, he battled severe alcoholism, leading to violent outbursts, impulsivity, and social withdrawal. In 1937–1938, he sought psychiatric treatment for alcoholism, culminating in a four-month hospitalization in 1938 following a breakdown involving depression and agitation.
From 1939–1942, Pollock underwent Jungian psychoanalysis with therapists Joseph Henderson and Violet Staub de Laszlo. He was often nonverbal in sessions, so his therapists encouraged him to produce drawings as a form of free association. These "psychoanalytic drawings" (about 83 works) featured symbolic imagery influenced by Carl Jung's concepts, such as archetypes, the collective unconscious, mandalas, and anima/animus conflicts. They provided insight into his inner conflicts and marked a therapeutic breakthrough.
Modern psychiatric analyses, including posthumous reviews, strongly suggest Pollock met criteria for bipolar disorder. His treating psychiatrists noted alternating periods of "violent agitation" (mania/hypomania) and "paralysis or withdrawal" (depression). He experienced extreme mood swings: intense creative frenzies lasting days contrasted with deep depressive episodes where he was bedridden and unable to paint. Alcohol likely exacerbated these cycles, serving as self-medication but worsening depression. Some sources mention visual disturbances or hallucinations, potentially linked to mania or alcohol withdrawal.
Pollock's struggles intensified in the 1950s amid fame and pressure. His alcoholism deepened, leading to infidelity, isolation, and minimal output in his final years. He died at age 44 in 1956 in an alcohol-related car crash.Portrait photographs of Jackson Pollock, capturing his intense and troubled demeanor.
Psychiatric Interpretation of His Art
Pollock's work evolved from figurative influences (Picasso, Mexican muralists, Native American art) to pure abstraction, heavily shaped by his psychological experiences.
- Psychoanalytic Drawings (1939–1940): These directly emerged from therapy, filled with Jungian symbols (e.g., birds, moons, masks, totems) representing unconscious conflicts, individuation, and anima issues. They bridged his inner turmoil and artistic expression, helping him access the subconscious.
- Drip Paintings (1947–1950 peak): His signature "action paintings" (e.g., Number 1A, 1948; Autumn Rhythm) are often interpreted as manifestations of the unconscious. The physical act of painting—rhythmic, trance-like movement—was cathartic, allowing Pollock to bypass conscious control and channel raw emotion. Jungian theory influenced this: dripping evoked automatic writing or surrealist automatism, surfacing archetypes without deliberate planning.
Pollock's art and life exemplify the complex link between mental illness and creativity. His struggles fueled innovation but ultimately contributed to his tragic end. Therapy and Jungian ideas provided tools for expression, turning personal chaos into groundbreaking art that continues to evoke psychological depth.
1946 The Blue Unconscious
2013 SOLD for $ 21M by Sotheby's
On May 14, 2013, Sotheby's sold at lot 27 for $ 21M a large canvas 213 x 142 cm, painted in 1946 at the beginning of the Long Island studio.
Titled The Blue Unconscious, this artwork is close to the style of Gorky and de Kooning, perhaps by accident because Pollock was not interested in the works and theories of the expressionists. A larger than life female nude occupies the right side of the image while the left side receives grimacing heads. The whole is voluntarily made poorly readable by patterns of colored lines. He will continue to draw such fantasies before feverishly and systematically hiding them by the dripping.
The very first work using dripping was painted at the end of 1946. The surface is bright red and the contributions are black and white. Named Free form, this 49 x 36 cm oil on canvas is kept at the MoMA.
The next step is the diversification of colors. An oil on masonite 48 x 60 cm dated 1946 is painted in bright yellow, bright blue and black by dripping and splashing on a background of the same red.
This Red composition was sold for $ 13M by Christie's on October 6, 2020, lot 5. Its first owner was Peggy Guggenheim. It is de-accessioned by the Everson Art Museum in Syracuse NY to refocus their collection on the fight against racial and sexual inequalities.
Pollock's musicalist dances around large-scale works will come soon after.
Titled The Blue Unconscious, this artwork is close to the style of Gorky and de Kooning, perhaps by accident because Pollock was not interested in the works and theories of the expressionists. A larger than life female nude occupies the right side of the image while the left side receives grimacing heads. The whole is voluntarily made poorly readable by patterns of colored lines. He will continue to draw such fantasies before feverishly and systematically hiding them by the dripping.
The very first work using dripping was painted at the end of 1946. The surface is bright red and the contributions are black and white. Named Free form, this 49 x 36 cm oil on canvas is kept at the MoMA.
The next step is the diversification of colors. An oil on masonite 48 x 60 cm dated 1946 is painted in bright yellow, bright blue and black by dripping and splashing on a background of the same red.
This Red composition was sold for $ 13M by Christie's on October 6, 2020, lot 5. Its first owner was Peggy Guggenheim. It is de-accessioned by the Everson Art Museum in Syracuse NY to refocus their collection on the fight against racial and sexual inequalities.
Pollock's musicalist dances around large-scale works will come soon after.
Special Report
Drip Technique
Jackson Pollock's drip technique (also called his "pouring" or "dripping" method) revolutionized modern art in the late 1940s and early 1950s, making him a central figure in Abstract Expressionism and earning him the nickname "Jack the Dripper" from Time magazine. Far from random chaos, it was a highly controlled, physical process that emphasized gesture, movement, and the properties of paint itself over traditional representation.
Development and Origins
Pollock began experimenting with pouring and dripping around 1947, after years of influence from Surrealist automatism, Picasso's fragmentation, Native American sand paintings, Mexican muralists, and possibly earlier artists like Janet Sobel (who used similar techniques in the mid-1940s). He fully embraced it in works like Full Fathom Five (1947) and hit his stride with masterpieces from 1948–1950.
He rejected easels and brushes for a more dynamic approach: unstretched canvas laid flat on the floor of his Long Island studio barn. This allowed him to walk around (and sometimes on) the work, approaching from all angles in what Harold Rosenberg later termed action painting.
The Process
Pollock used thinned commercial enamel house paint (cheaper and more fluid than artist's oils) in cans or buckets. Tools included sticks, stiffened brushes, trowels, or simply pouring straight from the can. He flicked, flung, poured, dripped, and splashed the paint, often layering colors over weeks or months—alternating intense sessions with contemplation.Key elements:
Technique in Action
Pollock's process was captured in famous footage by Hans Namuth (1950) and others, showing his energetic, performative style.
Impact and Legacy
The drip technique shifted art from object to process—emphasizing the artist's energy, subconscious, and physical presence. It influenced performance art, later abstract painters, and even contemporary fluid art techniques. Critics debated its chaos vs. control, but Pollock insisted: "It doesn't make much difference how the paint is put on as long as something has been said."
His method remains one of the most radical innovations in 20th-century painting, embodying freedom, risk, and raw expression.
Development and Origins
Pollock began experimenting with pouring and dripping around 1947, after years of influence from Surrealist automatism, Picasso's fragmentation, Native American sand paintings, Mexican muralists, and possibly earlier artists like Janet Sobel (who used similar techniques in the mid-1940s). He fully embraced it in works like Full Fathom Five (1947) and hit his stride with masterpieces from 1948–1950.
He rejected easels and brushes for a more dynamic approach: unstretched canvas laid flat on the floor of his Long Island studio barn. This allowed him to walk around (and sometimes on) the work, approaching from all angles in what Harold Rosenberg later termed action painting.
The Process
Pollock used thinned commercial enamel house paint (cheaper and more fluid than artist's oils) in cans or buckets. Tools included sticks, stiffened brushes, trowels, or simply pouring straight from the can. He flicked, flung, poured, dripped, and splashed the paint, often layering colors over weeks or months—alternating intense sessions with contemplation.Key elements:
- Gravity and physics: Paint fell in continuous filaments (not just droplets) to avoid coiling instability—creating long, unbroken lines.
- Full-body gesture: He moved rhythmically like a dancer, using wrist, arm, and whole-body swings for velocity and control.
- Layering and all-over composition: No central focus; the entire surface was covered in intricate webs of line and color, with added texture from sand, glass, or cigarette butts sometimes embedded.
- Improvisation with intention: Pollock described it as channeling the unconscious, but he maintained precise control—avoiding pure accident.
Technique in Action
Pollock's process was captured in famous footage by Hans Namuth (1950) and others, showing his energetic, performative style.
Impact and Legacy
The drip technique shifted art from object to process—emphasizing the artist's energy, subconscious, and physical presence. It influenced performance art, later abstract painters, and even contemporary fluid art techniques. Critics debated its chaos vs. control, but Pollock insisted: "It doesn't make much difference how the paint is put on as long as something has been said."
His method remains one of the most radical innovations in 20th-century painting, embodying freedom, risk, and raw expression.
1948 Number 19
2013 SOLD for $ 58M by Christie's
In 1946 Lee Krasner pushes Jackson Pollock to a secluded barn on Long Island. Thus freed from the bustle of the big city, Pollock has the luck to live his artistic Passion, in the strongest meaning of that word.
He did not consider himself as an abstract artist. In the first months after his arrival in Long Island, he developed two series of paintings titled 'Sounds in the grass' and 'Accabonac Creek', reflecting his desire to commune with the earth for expressing its richness.
Pollock improves his technique throughout 1946, and abandons his stylized figuration. Wanting to work on a hard surface, he uses the masonite. He begins to apply the pigment in impasto directly at the outlet of the tube and gradually gives up the brush. For convenience, he lays directly on the floor the surface to be painted instead of using an easel.
The use of sprayed or flowing liquid paint is made possible by that position of the support. His hand acquires an unprecedented freedom. Pollock's art conveys his subconscious energy, just as Chinese calligraphy is a direct transcription of an artist's emotion. Masson is referred with Miro among Pollock's surrealist influences, but it will be noted that Michaux's automatic drawings were influenced by Chinese calligraphy.
The very first work using dripping was painted at the end of 1946. The surface is bright red and the contributions are black and white. Named Free form, this 49 x 36 cm oil on canvas is kept at the MoMA. There is no horizon and no framing even when the work is small, and there is also no longer a figuration.
The next step is the diversification of colors. The lines of pure colors of various widths form infinite and meticulous tangles. The regularity of the final mesh is spectacular without being total, so that certain areas are breathing or vibrating such as an organic matter. Richter's squeegee will generate similar effects.
An oil on masonite 48 x 60 cm dated 1946 is painted in bright yellow, bright blue and black by dripping and splashing on a background of the same red. It was sold for $ 13M by Christie's on October 6, 2020, lot 5. Its first owner had been Peggy Guggenheim. It was de-accessioned by the Everson Art Museum in Syracuse NY to refocus their collection on the fight against racial and sexual inequalities.
Pollock's musicalist dances around large-scale works came soon after.
The works on paper prepared with a white primer are promising and the small formats make it more possible to obtain in a lesser time a full covering of the surface with the desirable entangled lines of high density.
In 1948, Pollock stops giving titles to his works, now designated by numbers. One of his largest boards, Number 5, 1948, 2.4 x 1.2 m, reached $ 140M in a private sale in 2006.
On May 15, 2013, Christie's sold for $ 58M from a lower estimate of $ 25M Number 19, 1948. This oil and enamel on paper mounted on canvas is small, 78 x 57 cm, but the fineness of the pours and drips is superb. Please watch the video prepared by Christie's.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc May 16, 2013
Jackson Pollock's Number 19, 1948 realized $58,363,750, a #worldauctionrecord for the artist
He did not consider himself as an abstract artist. In the first months after his arrival in Long Island, he developed two series of paintings titled 'Sounds in the grass' and 'Accabonac Creek', reflecting his desire to commune with the earth for expressing its richness.
Pollock improves his technique throughout 1946, and abandons his stylized figuration. Wanting to work on a hard surface, he uses the masonite. He begins to apply the pigment in impasto directly at the outlet of the tube and gradually gives up the brush. For convenience, he lays directly on the floor the surface to be painted instead of using an easel.
The use of sprayed or flowing liquid paint is made possible by that position of the support. His hand acquires an unprecedented freedom. Pollock's art conveys his subconscious energy, just as Chinese calligraphy is a direct transcription of an artist's emotion. Masson is referred with Miro among Pollock's surrealist influences, but it will be noted that Michaux's automatic drawings were influenced by Chinese calligraphy.
The very first work using dripping was painted at the end of 1946. The surface is bright red and the contributions are black and white. Named Free form, this 49 x 36 cm oil on canvas is kept at the MoMA. There is no horizon and no framing even when the work is small, and there is also no longer a figuration.
The next step is the diversification of colors. The lines of pure colors of various widths form infinite and meticulous tangles. The regularity of the final mesh is spectacular without being total, so that certain areas are breathing or vibrating such as an organic matter. Richter's squeegee will generate similar effects.
An oil on masonite 48 x 60 cm dated 1946 is painted in bright yellow, bright blue and black by dripping and splashing on a background of the same red. It was sold for $ 13M by Christie's on October 6, 2020, lot 5. Its first owner had been Peggy Guggenheim. It was de-accessioned by the Everson Art Museum in Syracuse NY to refocus their collection on the fight against racial and sexual inequalities.
Pollock's musicalist dances around large-scale works came soon after.
The works on paper prepared with a white primer are promising and the small formats make it more possible to obtain in a lesser time a full covering of the surface with the desirable entangled lines of high density.
In 1948, Pollock stops giving titles to his works, now designated by numbers. One of his largest boards, Number 5, 1948, 2.4 x 1.2 m, reached $ 140M in a private sale in 2006.
On May 15, 2013, Christie's sold for $ 58M from a lower estimate of $ 25M Number 19, 1948. This oil and enamel on paper mounted on canvas is small, 78 x 57 cm, but the fineness of the pours and drips is superb. Please watch the video prepared by Christie's.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc May 16, 2013
Jackson Pollock's Number 19, 1948 realized $58,363,750, a #worldauctionrecord for the artist
- Christie's 2013 post celebrates the $58.4 million sale of Jackson Pollock's "Number 19, 1948," an abstract drip painting that set a then-record for the artist, surpassing its $35 million high estimate amid four bidders.
- This sale anchored Christie's Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction, totaling $495 million—the highest auction sum at the time—highlighting booming demand for mid-20th-century American abstraction.
- Created during Pollock's peak drip period, the enamel-and-oil work on paper mounted on canvas exemplifies his innovative action painting technique, influencing modern art movements like Abstract Expressionism.
1949 Oil and Enamel on Paper on Masonite
Intro
1949 was the pinnacle in the life of Jackson Pollock. His unprecedented method of painting with dripping, which he invented two years earlier, is operational. His wife Lee Krasner and the gallery owner Betty Parsons manage his career, sparing him those social relationships in which he is so uncomfortable. From the end of 1948 until November 1950, he did not drink alcohol.
With these favorable circumstances, Jack can devote himself to his art, which he has always understood as the expression of his subconscious. The laudatory comments from some art critics don't surprise him : he tells Lee that there is no other example of creativity in their country except for the Bebop by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.
He has detractors, who consider that his creative gesture is random and therefore meaningless. Motivated by this opposition, he is preparing a series of paintings which will be exhibited together at the end of the year by Betty Parsons to demonstrate the diversity of his pictorial effects in a unique format.
He chooses oil and enamel on paper, which does not alter the colors of the pigments, adding on some works a phosphorescence effect with aluminum paint. The paper format, 78 x 57 cm, is not comparable to the gigantic canvases of the previous year, but it has an operational advantage : the jerky movement of the wrist is sufficient to perform a dripping of great precision without resorting to a gesticulatory dance all around the work.
This set of 16 works mounted on masonite is exhibited in November 1949 by Betty Parsons alongside unsold items from the previous show.
With these favorable circumstances, Jack can devote himself to his art, which he has always understood as the expression of his subconscious. The laudatory comments from some art critics don't surprise him : he tells Lee that there is no other example of creativity in their country except for the Bebop by Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Parker.
He has detractors, who consider that his creative gesture is random and therefore meaningless. Motivated by this opposition, he is preparing a series of paintings which will be exhibited together at the end of the year by Betty Parsons to demonstrate the diversity of his pictorial effects in a unique format.
He chooses oil and enamel on paper, which does not alter the colors of the pigments, adding on some works a phosphorescence effect with aluminum paint. The paper format, 78 x 57 cm, is not comparable to the gigantic canvases of the previous year, but it has an operational advantage : the jerky movement of the wrist is sufficient to perform a dripping of great precision without resorting to a gesticulatory dance all around the work.
This set of 16 works mounted on masonite is exhibited in November 1949 by Betty Parsons alongside unsold items from the previous show.
1
Number 31
2022 SOLD for $ 54M by Christie's
The Number 31 of 1949, oil, enamel, aluminum paint and gesso on paper mounted on Masonite
79 x 57 cm painted in 1949, was sold for $ 54M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 21C. It is in a great original condition with fresh colors.
The abstract swirls and stains densely occupy the whole surface of the paper in a vibrant arrangement of colors. It is one of the eight examples in that series which used drips of aluminum paint to increase the brightness. Brilliant red, emerald green, turquoise, yellow and orange offer a rainbow spectrum effect.
This piece demonstrating the full maturity of Pollock's dripping process was included in the second solo show at Betty Parsons Gallery in November and December 1949.
Grok thought :
Quote
FAD Magazine @worldofFAD May 3, 2022
$45 million+ Jackson Pollock masterpiece to lead Christie’s 20th Century evening sale https://buff.ly/3OHYTCO @ChristiesInc #auction #jacksonpollock
79 x 57 cm painted in 1949, was sold for $ 54M by Christie's on May 12, 2022, lot 21C. It is in a great original condition with fresh colors.
The abstract swirls and stains densely occupy the whole surface of the paper in a vibrant arrangement of colors. It is one of the eight examples in that series which used drips of aluminum paint to increase the brightness. Brilliant red, emerald green, turquoise, yellow and orange offer a rainbow spectrum effect.
This piece demonstrating the full maturity of Pollock's dripping process was included in the second solo show at Betty Parsons Gallery in November and December 1949.
Grok thought :
Quote
FAD Magazine @worldofFAD May 3, 2022
$45 million+ Jackson Pollock masterpiece to lead Christie’s 20th Century evening sale https://buff.ly/3OHYTCO @ChristiesInc #auction #jacksonpollock
- Painting Details: Jackson Pollock's Number 31 (1949) is a compact drip technique work on paper mounted on Masonite, using oil, enamel, and aluminum paint for its vibrant, metallic layers; created at the height of his fame, it was praised by critics upon debut and featured in MoMA retrospectives.
- Auction Outcome: Estimated at over $45 million for Christie's May 12, 2022, 20th Century Evening Sale, the piece sold for $54.2 million, reinforcing Pollock's status as a top Abstract Expressionist with consistent high-value sales.
- Market Insight: As one of only eight metallic drip paintings from 1949, Number 31 exemplifies the New York School's rise, with its sale reflecting sustained demand for Pollock's innovative techniques amid a competitive postwar art market.
2
Number 32
2018 SOLD for $ 34M by Sotheby's
Number 32, 1949 is one of the 8 examples that used aluminum.
In a nice freshness thanks to a parsimonious use in exhibitions, this oil, enamel, and aluminum paint on paper mounted on Masonite was sold for $ 34M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018, lot 14. Please watch the short video and the full video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Apr 23, 2018
Dive into Jackson #Pollock's 'Number 32, 1949', one of 16 drip paintings created on paper mounted on Masonite or canvas in 1949. #SothebysContemporary Art Evening Auction takes place 16 May; exhibitions open 4 May. #FearlessNow
In a nice freshness thanks to a parsimonious use in exhibitions, this oil, enamel, and aluminum paint on paper mounted on Masonite was sold for $ 34M by Sotheby's on May 16, 2018, lot 14. Please watch the short video and the full video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Apr 23, 2018
Dive into Jackson #Pollock's 'Number 32, 1949', one of 16 drip paintings created on paper mounted on Masonite or canvas in 1949. #SothebysContemporary Art Evening Auction takes place 16 May; exhibitions open 4 May. #FearlessNow
- This 2018 Sotheby's post promotes Jackson Pollock's "Number 32, 1949," a rare drip painting on paper mounted on Masonite from his prolific 1949 series, inviting viewers to explore its abstract energy ahead of a May auction.
- The attached video immerses audiences in the artwork's layered drips and aluminum paint shimmer, framing it as a post-war masterpiece that redefined modern painting techniques.
- Auctioned on May 16, 2018, the piece fetched $34.1 million—surpassing its $30–40 million estimate—affirming Pollock's enduring value, with only 16 similar works from that year known to exist.
3
Number 16
2013 SOLD for $ 32.6M by Christie's
The numbers 12, 16 and 17 appear as nets entangling the black and colored lines over an ocher background. This centered pattern which hardly reaches the edge of the image gives up the effect of infinite field, which was therefore not essential in Pollock's creativity, while maintaining the total absence of a third dimension.
Number 16 was sold for $ 32.6M by Christie's on November 12, 2013, lot 39.
Number 16 was sold for $ 32.6M by Christie's on November 12, 2013, lot 39.
4
Number 17
2015 SOLD for $ 23M by Sotheby's
Number 17, 57 x 72 cm, was sold for $ 23M by Sotheby's on November 11, 2015, lot 9.
De-accessed from MoMA, Number 12 was sold for $ 11.7M by Christie's on May 11, 2004, lot 17.
De-accessed from MoMA, Number 12 was sold for $ 11.7M by Christie's on May 11, 2004, lot 17.
masterpiece
1950 One: Number 31
MoMA
1950
Composition with Red Strokes
2018 SOLD for $ 55M by Christie's
The non-figurative paintings by Jackson Pollock are neither mystical nor pantheistic. They express his deep personality as no artist had done before him.
The artistic training of this Wyoming boy had not been conventional. He admires the influence of the tribal arts on Picasso and the revolutionary message of the Mexican muralists, and especially he gets rid of the usual practices of the painters.
By neglecting the limits of his canvas or paper support, he offers infinity whatever the size of the artwork, as Mondrian had done. By putting his canvas or paper directly on the floor, he can dance around it like an Indian. In this gesture where the paint flows from the pot shaken by the hand, he creates networks of colors that he modifies at will, which would be impossible on a wall or an easel.
The surrealists wanted to express their dreams. Pollock does the opposite : he controls his subconscious. His colors are so entangled that no detail is preponderant. They do not constitute a cerebral image but the product of his three-dimensional dance. A little later Kazuo Shiraga will also involve his own body in his artistic creation.
Pollock is a perfectionist but he works quickly and his output is abundant. His best years begin in 1948 when he can devote himself entirely to his art with the effective support of his wife Lee Krasner in their Long Island barn studio isolated from the harmful temptations of the big city.
On November 13, 2018, Christie's sold for $ 55M a painting in oil, enamel and aluminum 93 x 65 cm, lot 17 B. Dated 1950 by the artist but not numbered, it has no exhibition history in his lifetime and is identified by the descriptive title Composition with Red Strokes.
The artistic training of this Wyoming boy had not been conventional. He admires the influence of the tribal arts on Picasso and the revolutionary message of the Mexican muralists, and especially he gets rid of the usual practices of the painters.
By neglecting the limits of his canvas or paper support, he offers infinity whatever the size of the artwork, as Mondrian had done. By putting his canvas or paper directly on the floor, he can dance around it like an Indian. In this gesture where the paint flows from the pot shaken by the hand, he creates networks of colors that he modifies at will, which would be impossible on a wall or an easel.
The surrealists wanted to express their dreams. Pollock does the opposite : he controls his subconscious. His colors are so entangled that no detail is preponderant. They do not constitute a cerebral image but the product of his three-dimensional dance. A little later Kazuo Shiraga will also involve his own body in his artistic creation.
Pollock is a perfectionist but he works quickly and his output is abundant. His best years begin in 1948 when he can devote himself entirely to his art with the effective support of his wife Lee Krasner in their Long Island barn studio isolated from the harmful temptations of the big city.
On November 13, 2018, Christie's sold for $ 55M a painting in oil, enamel and aluminum 93 x 65 cm, lot 17 B. Dated 1950 by the artist but not numbered, it has no exhibition history in his lifetime and is identified by the descriptive title Composition with Red Strokes.
1951 Number 4
2012 SOLD for $ 40M by Sotheby's
Number 4, 1951 is a great demonstrator of the most brilliant works by Jackson Pollock, with a variety of exciting colors that is not frequently the most visible feature for this artist .
Three techniques are brought together to create harmony within this small canvas, 77 x 64 cm, impregnated with aluminum paint.
Created by dripping, fine lines of different colors are seeking to exchange a message defaced by their complexity, in the tradition of the automatic writing of Dada. Five very shiny and pure colors, red, blue, yellow, green and ochre, compete to dominate that field without worrying about the lines. Black enamel spots are trying to maintain some balance in this fight.
Pollock has developed an entirely new technique of creation by which the progressing work guides the artist in a lengthy process which is achieved when the artist can not imagine a further improvement of harmony.
Directly by the disclosure of his act, indirectly by the obtained result, the work of Pollock had a considerable influence on the art of the second half of the twentieth century. The further step in the Abstraktes Bild by Richter will be to no longer need that first drawing which Pollock and Klein were hiding or blurring.
As we know, the frenzy of Pollock ruined his health. The first owner of Number 4, 1951, was the psychoanalyst who was trying to help him against alcoholism.
Number 4 was sold for $ 40M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2012, lot 10.
Three techniques are brought together to create harmony within this small canvas, 77 x 64 cm, impregnated with aluminum paint.
Created by dripping, fine lines of different colors are seeking to exchange a message defaced by their complexity, in the tradition of the automatic writing of Dada. Five very shiny and pure colors, red, blue, yellow, green and ochre, compete to dominate that field without worrying about the lines. Black enamel spots are trying to maintain some balance in this fight.
Pollock has developed an entirely new technique of creation by which the progressing work guides the artist in a lengthy process which is achieved when the artist can not imagine a further improvement of harmony.
Directly by the disclosure of his act, indirectly by the obtained result, the work of Pollock had a considerable influence on the art of the second half of the twentieth century. The further step in the Abstraktes Bild by Richter will be to no longer need that first drawing which Pollock and Klein were hiding or blurring.
As we know, the frenzy of Pollock ruined his health. The first owner of Number 4, 1951, was the psychoanalyst who was trying to help him against alcoholism.
Number 4 was sold for $ 40M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Sotheby's on November 13, 2012, lot 10.
1951 Number 28
2012 SOLD for $ 23M by Christie's
Jackson Pollock was totally immersed in his art. The canvas stretched on the ground becomes his universe. He endlessly covers it with the streams of his paints, matted and spread by mechanical gestures that ultimately escape his own conscience.
Like all great artists, he wants to express his view of the world. His work is figurative, but the layers go to make it unreadable. Curiously, Klein will have a similar approach with his blue monochromes a few years later. Only the author can preserve the memory of this vanishing figuration.
After various experiments, the artist returned to his 1948 style at the fall of 1951. His now thicker materials,deposited with syringes, become flesh.
Number 28, 1951, painted on a large canvas 77 x 137 cm, in black and gray with white, red and yellow lines, was sold for $ 23M by Christie's on May 8, 2012, lot 22.
Like all great artists, he wants to express his view of the world. His work is figurative, but the layers go to make it unreadable. Curiously, Klein will have a similar approach with his blue monochromes a few years later. Only the author can preserve the memory of this vanishing figuration.
After various experiments, the artist returned to his 1948 style at the fall of 1951. His now thicker materials,deposited with syringes, become flesh.
Number 28, 1951, painted on a large canvas 77 x 137 cm, in black and gray with white, red and yellow lines, was sold for $ 23M by Christie's on May 8, 2012, lot 22.
1951 Black and White Painting
2021 SOLD for $ 61M by Sotheby's
The signature style of Jackson Pollock was to express the rhythmic motion of his body while he poured paint on the floor. The successive use of many colors on a same support led to an impression that he expressed the rich soil of Long Island, just as Monet had done in Giverny.
This achievement must nevertheless consider that one of his basic inspirations had been the marks left in the sand by the dance of the Navajo Indians.
He was right in considering that his creativity owed as much to the dance than to colors. In 1951 he starts a series of monochrome paintings by pouring a saturated deep black liquid paint on the canvas again laid across the floor.
As a consequence the mingling of the colors was superseded by patterns of curves, dots and smears which could lead him back to the weird automatic figuration of his beginnings.
A typical example is the opus Number 5 of 1951, black oil paint 147 x 141 cm, sold for $ 11.4M by Christie's on May 13, 2014, lot 30, titled Elegant Lady by his gallerist.
Black and White Painting III, enamel on canvas 140 x 125 cm also painted in 1951, features a human form with stretched arms and is tentatively interpreted as a crucifixion. It was sold for $ 5.2M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2015, lot 38.
The opus 17 of the same year did not reach such an enigmatic figuration, remaining a pure expression of Pollock's wrist mingling thick intense lines and angel's hair. This black enamel on canvas 150 x 150 cm was sold for $ 61M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 11.
Despite the commercial failure of a first exhibition, Pollock persevered up to a total of 33 black paintings. Were they indeed more than a refined form of Rorschach blots ?
Grok thought :
Quote :
Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 16, 2021
#AuctionUpdate: An incredible example of Jackson Pollock’s ‘Black Paintings’, ‘Number 17, 1951’ fetches $61M - a new auction record for the artist.
This achievement must nevertheless consider that one of his basic inspirations had been the marks left in the sand by the dance of the Navajo Indians.
He was right in considering that his creativity owed as much to the dance than to colors. In 1951 he starts a series of monochrome paintings by pouring a saturated deep black liquid paint on the canvas again laid across the floor.
As a consequence the mingling of the colors was superseded by patterns of curves, dots and smears which could lead him back to the weird automatic figuration of his beginnings.
A typical example is the opus Number 5 of 1951, black oil paint 147 x 141 cm, sold for $ 11.4M by Christie's on May 13, 2014, lot 30, titled Elegant Lady by his gallerist.
Black and White Painting III, enamel on canvas 140 x 125 cm also painted in 1951, features a human form with stretched arms and is tentatively interpreted as a crucifixion. It was sold for $ 5.2M by Sotheby's on November 4, 2015, lot 38.
The opus 17 of the same year did not reach such an enigmatic figuration, remaining a pure expression of Pollock's wrist mingling thick intense lines and angel's hair. This black enamel on canvas 150 x 150 cm was sold for $ 61M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2021, lot 11.
Despite the commercial failure of a first exhibition, Pollock persevered up to a total of 33 black paintings. Were they indeed more than a refined form of Rorschach blots ?
Grok thought :
Quote :
Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 16, 2021
#AuctionUpdate: An incredible example of Jackson Pollock’s ‘Black Paintings’, ‘Number 17, 1951’ fetches $61M - a new auction record for the artist.
- Sotheby's post announces the $61 million sale of Jackson Pollock's "Number 17, 1951," a black enamel drip painting from his late-career "Black Paintings" series, marking a public auction record for the artist in 2021 as part of the Macklowe Collection.
- Created amid Pollock's personal struggles with alcoholism and creative doubt, the work exemplifies his shift to monochromatic abstraction on untreated canvas, using black to evoke dense, psychological labyrinths that challenged his earlier colorful drips.
- As of 2025, the $61 million price remains Pollock's top auction result, underscoring sustained demand for Abstract Expressionism despite private sales like "Number 5, 1948" fetching higher undisclosed sums.
