Drip, Splash, Revolution

In 1947, Jackson Pollock unrolled a canvas on his barn floor and began dripping, pouring, and flinging house paint straight from the can. No brushes, no easel, no traditional technique. The resulting paintings — tangled webs of dripped enamel — launched Abstract Expressionism and made New York the new center of the art world.

Pollock's method eliminated the barrier between the artist's body and the canvas. He moved around and over the painting, working from all four sides, making the physical act of creation inseparable from the finished work.