the house where Jackson Pollock lived.
Inspiration

Jackson Pollock Convergence

Jackson Pollock Convergence is a perfect example of his famous drip style.

The History of Jackson Pollock Convergence

Jackson Pollock Convergence is a primarily black and white abstract painting that uses bold splashes of red, yellow, and blue paint to create a dramatic scene. Jackson Pollock painted these paintings on raw canvas rolled out on the floor of his Hampton’s studio. He would use sticks to drip “lines” of industrial paint onto the canvas, never touching the canvas directly with his brush.

Jackson Pollock Convergence is one of the artists most famous works. It was created in 1952 and measures 93.5 inches by 155 inches. This is a moderate sized canvas for the artist who is known to create much larger works.

Description of The Artwork

This is one of the true masterpieces of American Abstract Expressionism and art history in general. The natural beige tone of the canvas provides a solid foundation for swirling drips of black paint. The black paint provides the base layer and structure for the rest of the painting. These black marks are strongly evocative and hold the entire picture together visually.




On top of the the black textured marks, bold strokes of the primary colors are applied together. The red, yellow, white, and blue paint intertwine together to create dramatic moments of focus that pull your eye to different areas of the canvas. The competition between these area of focus create a sensation of movement and vibrant energy. Your eyes naturally want to move between the brightest areas of color and sharpest tonal contrasts. This movement of the eyes is what gives abstract paintings like this their incredible sense of energy and emotion.

The red, yellow, and blue paint weaves together so that no color becomes overly dominant. While certain areas of the picture may appear to be more yellow, red, or blue, this is balanced with another area that is dominated by a different color.

All three colors are held in check by the magnificent black and beige ground.

How It Was Painted: Action Painting

the house where Jackson Pollock lived.
The house that Jackson Pollock lived in.

At this point in his career, Jackson polluck would place the raw canvas on the floor in the middle of his studio. He would walk around, on, and through the painting so that he could work at it and see it from different angles. This was revolutionary because it allowed the movement of the artist to be captured in the artwork. The drips of paint traced the artists gestures as he moved about through the work. This sense of movement and relationship to the artists physical self led to this style being dubbed “Action Painting“. Jackson Pollock Convergence is an action painting in the truest sense because it records and reflects the action of the artist as he transforms his emotions to the canvas.

Despite the fact that this artwork was created over 60 years ago, it retains an incredible sense of life, and a vibrant energy. It is no doubt that Jackson Pollock was able to create a timeless sense of emotion and energy that will endure for a very long time.

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