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Hi, this is from Five Minutes with Art.
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One of the most famous American artist
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by far is Jackson Pollock. But one of
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his famous works of art is number five.
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And many people ask, well, why is this
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painting so famous? You know the heart
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of American abstract expressionism Pock
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1948 number five is a testament to the
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complex interplay between art and the
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artist's life. The canvas is a sprawling
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constellation of drips, platters,
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And so I think that's one reason why
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this is such an iconic masterpiece.
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Historically, the period following World
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War II was rife with change.
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Understandably, artists who sought to
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express the new world uncertainties,
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you know, the abstraction became the
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language through which they spoke. It
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became a clear departure from, you know,
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the art of the past. Pollock, in
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particular, rode the crest of this wave.
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And he really was somebody who put his
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whole body and soul into producing his
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Now, personal factors also weighed heavy
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on this. Number five, he was wrestling
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with inner demons, notably alcoholism.
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He had a a very tumultuous, you know,
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personal life. His personal life was in
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disarray. There were struggles you
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steeped into his art. He was finding,
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you know, expression and chaotic energy
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and raw intense in his drip paintings.
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And he had sort of like this dynamic
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sort of dance that he did around the
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canvas laid out on the floor was both
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physically demanding and emotionally
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demanding in so many ways. He also had
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exposure to Native American sand
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painting and these you know creations of
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pouring color sand on surfaces and
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patterns and images sort of like sparked
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this approach to his art. So he really
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number five in 1948 reflect the
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cross-cultural currents of the time. It
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really reflected this new type of art.
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This layer upon layer of this raw
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emotion on the canvas. This is one
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reason why number five 1948 by Jackson
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Pollock is so famous. It stands with the
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world swirls of there's chaos and
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there's this sort of lack of order but
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yet order within this work of art. Order
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within the disorder. You could kind of
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say it's sort of like this post-war time
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in American history where there's sort
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of, you know, this anger, this change is
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going on. The, you know, 60s haven't
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quite come yet, but, you know, people
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can feel there's a change coming on. And
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Pock sort of embodied that. He sort of,
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you know, showed that through his art.
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You know, every drop and splatter on the
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was a shift from the traditional brush
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stroke, what became known as action
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painting. you know, action painting was
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when the painting was freely dripped and
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danced from his, you know, you know, his
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toolbox. So, literally, it was almost
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kind of like this poetic type of dance
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with layer upon layer with, you know,
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you could see Jackson Pollock, you know,
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probably drinking, smoking, and dancing
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around on the canvas. You can see the
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motion of this work of art. It's almost
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like this visual type of orchestra of
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his artwork there. Sort of this symphony
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of the drips of the colors of this
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different layering. Also the choice of
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colors is you know understanding of
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their psychological impact from the
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earthy browns and yellows you know with
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the fiery reds and color cooling grays
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you know. So it became all these
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different hues began to generate this
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this sort of you know silence
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renaissance on this this canvas itself
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which sort of echoed you know this also
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the human emotion in it. You had the you
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know the earthy browns and the yellows
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and the reds and the grays which are
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things that we maybe feel in our own
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emotion. you know, as your eyes wander
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across the canvas, you know, there's a
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weave of the narrative, a tapestry of
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thought, you know, you can kind of
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really see again Jackson Pock's life
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there, you know, and that was one of the
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things that made Jackson Pock such a
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brilliant artist is he had this ability
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to put his emotion into the canvas. So,
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when you see his canvas, you see it up
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close and you see the layering of it,
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you can almost feel the emotion and that
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dance going on. And that's why it
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remains this enduring testament to him
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that you know amid the turmoil of of his
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own personal life, Jackson Pollock was
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still able to paint and put that emotion
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and that turmoil into these grand
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masterpieces of art that it's it's like
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a a a performance or an orchestra that
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went on. If you'd like to be able to
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read more about this, we have a blog
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written on this called Why is Jackson
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Pollock's number five, 1948 so famous?
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And we'll put a link in the description
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below for you to read more about this.
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But that truly is, you know, Jackson
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Pollock was a master in being able to I
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feel like was a master in being able to
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show his emotion and his personal
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turmoil in the art that he produced. And
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that's what makes it such a great work
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of art and continues to be such a famous
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and great work of art today.
