Jackson Pollock

Jackson Pollock is one of the most iconic figures of twentieth-century American art. His techniques influenced an entire school of artists who were then part of the abstract expressionism movement.

Born in 1912 in Wyoming, Pollock grew up in California and Arizona. He was influenced by Navajo ritual dances and sandpainting, which he had observed in Indian reservations in Arizona. Pollock's older brother, Charles, a student at the Otis Art Institute in Los Angeles, gave him a taste for the arts! So much so that Pollock enrolled at Manual Arts High School in 1927. Three years later, the brothers moved to New York together, where Charles introduced Pollock to the work of Mexican muralists such as José Clemente Orozco, David Siqueiros, and Diego Rivera. Pollock also discovered cubism and surrealism. He admired the great European painters such as Pablo Picasso, Joan Miró, and André Masson. Pollock's European influences inspired him to explore mythological themes.

Unfortunately, Pollock's alcohol addiction forced him to seek treatment. There, he was encouraged to use drawing as a form of therapy. Drawing was a method that helped Pollock understand himself and to materialize abstract thoughts like humanity's deepest fears.

Like many surrealists, Pollock practiced automatic writing and tackled much more sizeable formats. In 1943, he met Peggy Guggenheim, who helped him exhibit his work in a gallery in New York. One imposing mural in particular seduced visitors, marking the beginning of Pollock's success...

In 1945, Pollock moved in with his wife and set up his studio in a barn, where his most prominent works were born. His monumental paintings were designed according to his unique techniques: drips, splatters, and splashes that flooded the surface of the canvas. The method was dubbed “all-over" painting. Pollock painted without his brush ever touching the canvas, which earned him the nickname “Jack the Dripper".

Art also lies in the gestures and energy of the artist painter; Pollock used it as a means of external expression and a form of cleansing. This was later called “action painting". After 1952, Pollock reintroduced figurative elements in his paintings and began using the brush again. He was very prolific during his last years of life before a fatal car accident put an end to his artistic momentum in 1956.

The abstract expressionist left behind more than 700 works of art that influenced the greatest painters and changed artistic creation forever.