Number 5, 1950

From the museum

Jackson Pollock popularized the method of flinging pigment from store-bought cans of paint onto canvas placed flat on the floor. Filled with intricate webs of lines and intermingled spatters, paintings such as Number 5, 1950 are direct records of the artist’s moving body and hand gestures. By creating this way, the artist explained, “I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting.” In addition to their unconventional technique at the time, Pollock’s “drip” canvases feature compositions that cover their entire surfaces without an obvious center or direction, a recent development in the history of modern art. Although he was born Paul Jackson Pollock, he always went by his middle name.

The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC0