Jackson Pollock

Introduction & Top Questions
Early life and work
Coming into maturity
“Poured” works
Legacy

References & Edit History Quick Facts & Related Topics

Images

Jackson Pollock: Reflection of the Big Dipper

At a Glance

Jackson Pollock summary

Quizzes

Color pastels, colored chalk, colorful chalk. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, history and society

Ultimate Art Quiz

Close-up of a palette held by a man. Mixing paint, painting, color mixing.

Artists, Painters, & Architects

Tate Modern extension Switch House, London, England. (Tavatnik, museums). Photo dated 2017.

Can You Match These Lesser-Known Paintings to Their Artists?

"The Birth of Venus," tempera on canvas by Sandro Botticelli, c. 1485; in the Uffizi, Florence.

Who Painted the Most Expensive Paintings in the World?

Related Questions

How did Frederick John de St. Vrain Schwankovsky influence Jackson Pollock’s early artistic interests?
How did Jackson Pollock create different textures in his paintings?
How did Jackson Pollock create his drip paintings?
How did Jackson Pollock die in 1956?
How did Jackson Pollock influence Pop art and other later art movements?
How did Jackson Pollock’s drip paintings help shape Abstract Expressionism?
How did Jackson Pollock’s paintings differ from traditional paintings made on an easel?
How did Jungian psychoanalysis influence Jackson Pollock’s paintings?
How did Lee Krasner influence Jackson Pollock’s art and career?
How did Lee Krasner’s career change after Jackson Pollock’s death?
How did Mexican muralists influence Jackson Pollock’s work?
How did Pablo Picasso influence Jackson Pollock’s developing style?
How did Peggy Guggenheim help Jackson Pollock’s career?
How did Pollock’s poured paintings express physical movement?
How did the Great Depression affect Jackson Pollock’s early career?
How did the WPA Federal Art Project support Jackson Pollock?
How did theosophy influence Jackson Pollock’s early life and art?
How was Jackson Pollock’s abstract art connected to Cold War debates in the United States?
How was Jackson Pollock’s work received in Europe?
What colors did Jackson Pollock use in Number 1, 1950 (Lavender Mist)?
What does the term action painting mean in relation to Jackson Pollock’s work?
What materials did Jackson Pollock use in Blue Poles?
What subjects did Jackson Pollock paint before he became an abstract artist?
When and where was Jackson Pollock born?
When did Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner marry?
When did Jackson Pollock begin pouring and dripping paint onto canvases?
When did Jackson Pollock have his first solo exhibition?
When did Jackson Pollock meet Lee Krasner?
When did Jackson Pollock move to New York City?
Where did Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner live after their marriage?
Where did Jackson Pollock grow up after leaving Cody, Wyoming?
Where did Jackson Pollock study art in New York City?
Where is Jackson Pollock’s Blue Poles displayed?
Which Jackson Pollock paintings belong to his poured period?
Which high school did Jackson Pollock attend in Los Angeles?
Which tools did Jackson Pollock use instead of a traditional paintbrush?
Who suggested the title Lavender Mist for Number 1, 1950?
Who survived the car crash that killed Jackson Pollock?
Who was Thomas Hart Benton and how did he influence Jackson Pollock?
Why did Clement Greenberg support Jackson Pollock’s paintings?
Why did Jackson Pollock attend David Alfaro Siqueiros’s experimental workshop?
Why did Jackson Pollock place his canvases on the floor?
Why did Jackson Pollock struggle financially despite becoming famous?
Why did Jackson Pollock use commercial enamel house paint?
Why did Jackson Pollock’s family move so often during his childhood?
Why is Blue Poles one of Jackson Pollock’s best-known paintings?
Why is Jackson Pollock considered an important artist in American modern art?
Why is Number 1, 1950 also called Lavender Mist?
Why was Jackson Pollock’s painting Mural an important breakthrough?
What did Jackson Pollock paint?
Where did Jackson Pollock live?
What is Joan Miró famous for?

Visual Arts Painting Painters

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External Websites

The Ohio State University - AAEP 1600 - Jackson Pollock
Art in Context - Jackson Pollock ï¿½ A Look at the Famous Master of the Drip Painting
Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa - Biography of Jackson Pollock
Art UK - Biography of Jackson Pollock
Washington University in St. Louis - Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum - Jackson Pollock, Sleeping Effort, 1953
Official Site of Jackson Pollock
National Gallery of Art - Jackson Pollock
Guggenheim - Biography of Jackson Pollock
Smart History - Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm
Artnet - Biography of Jackson Pollock
CBC Radio - Jackson Pollock was a master of physics as well as art, new study suggests
TheArtStory - Jackson Pollock
ABC Listen - The painting that changed Australia Â— the story of Blue Poles

Britannica Websites

Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students.

Jackson Pollock - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11)
Jackson Pollock - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up)

Jackson Pollock

American artist

Also known as: Paul Jackson Pollock

Written by

Francis Valentine O'Connor

Independent art historian. Co-editor of Jackson Pollock: A Catalogue Raisonné of Paintings, Drawings, and Other Works. Author of Federal Support for the Visual Arts: The New Deal and Now...

Francis Valentine O'Connor

Fact-checked by

Britannica Editors

Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....

Britannica Editors

Last updated

Oct. 16, 2026 •History

Jackson Pollock (born January 28, 1912, Cody, Wyoming, U.S.—died August 11, 1956, East Hampton, New York) was an American painter who was a leading exponent of Abstract Expressionism, an art movement characterized by the free-associative gestures in paint often called “action painting.” During his lifetime he received widespread publicity and serious recognition for the radical poured, or “drip,” technique he used to create his major works. Among his contemporaries, he was respected for his deeply...

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