70 Years After His Death, Jackson Pollock's Market and Museum Presence Soars

Seventy years after his death in August 1956, Jackson Pollock remains a towering figure in contemporary art. In May 2026, his painting Number 7A sold at Christie's New York for over $181 million. This autumn, the Metropolitan Museum of Art will host 'Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous,' an exhibition exploring his work in dialogue with his wife Lee Krasner. The article examines four landmark works: Full Fathom Five (1947), Autumn Rhythm (1950), Lavender Mist (1950), and Blue Poles (1952). Full Fathom Five, one of his first mature drip paintings, contains embedded objects like nails and buttons; X-ray analysis revealed a hidden human figure beneath the paint. Autumn Rhythm, an 8.5-meter canvas, was painted in a single day in October 1950 while photographer Hans Namuth documented the process. Lavender Mist, titled by critic Clement Greenberg, shows a lighter, more lyrical side of Pollock. Blue Poles, commissioned by architect Tony Smith, was acquired by the Australian government in 1973 for $2 million, a scandalous sum at the time. Pollock's technique of dripping paint on canvases laid on the floor, influenced by Surrealists like Breton, Ernst, and Masson, revolutionized Western art. He insisted there was no accident in his work, describing it as a controlled, choreographic physical act.