Blue Poles
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Blue Poles is an abstract painting from 1952 by the American artist Jackson Pollock, more properly known as Blue Poles: Number 11, 1952. It is similar to other drip paintings by Pollock, with the addition of eight large vertical blue "poles" placed over the top. It is owned by the National Gallery of Australia in Canberra.
[edit] National Gallery of Australia purchase
In 1973, the work was purchased by the Australian Whitlam Government for the National Gallery of Australia for US$2 million (A$1.3 million at the time of payment). At the time, this was the highest price ever paid for a modern painting. In the conservative climate of the time, the purchase created a political and media scandal.
The painting is now one of the most popular exhibits in the gallery, and now is thought to be worth between $100 and $150 million, according to the latest news.[1] It was a centrepiece of the Museum of Modern Art's 1999 retrospective in New York, the first time the painting had returned to America since its purchase.
