Long dead, Jackson Pollock finally makes it to Paris
We all know about Blue Poles – still Australia’s best artistic investment – but a new retrospective at the Musée Picasso shows the troubled path the great abstract expressionist took to painting it.
Jackson Pollock in his studio in 1953, the year after he painted Blue Poles. Tony Vaccaro/Getty
In life, Jackson Pollock never made it to Paris. Hard at work pushing American art beyond anything war-shattered Europe could muster, he died with an unused passport and an inferiority complex.
In death, Pollock was confirmed as a breakthrough star, with a status akin to his great idol, Pablo Picasso. So it is apt that a major retrospective of the work of Pollock’s early years should draw crowds to the Musée Picasso in Paris, tucked in a backstreet of the city’s Marais district.
Tom McIlroyCanberra Bureau ChiefTom McIlroy is the Financial Review’s Canberra bureau chief based in the press gallery at Parliament House. He was previously the AFR’s political correspondent. Connect with Tom on Twitter. Email Tom at thomas.mcilroy@afr.com
