The exhibition dedicated to Jackson Pollock (1912-1956) immerses the visitor in a pivotal period in the American painter's career, exploring his early experiments, influenced by Mexican muralists, up to the emergence of his famous drippings in 1947. This retrospective, featuring over a hundred works from prestigious institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, the Centre Pompidou, the Tate and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, reveals a fascinating panorama of the multiple sources of inspiration that fueled the young artist's research.
Date: from October 15, 2024 to January 19, 2025
Location: Musée Picasso
Envy: American painting, engravings, sculptures, Pollock
Pollock, an emblematic figure of Abstract Expressionism, very early on showed an insatiable curiosity for various artistic traditions. The exhibition thus highlights the diversity of influences that shaped his career: from the monumental frescoes of Mexican muralists such as José Clemente Orozco or Diego Rivera, to Native American arts, and the European avant-gardes, notably the work of Pablo Picasso, whose impact on Pollock's stylistic evolution is undeniable. These influences are found in his early works, where singular relationships between forms, rhythms and spaces are already woven, announcing the upheavals to come.
Far from being limited to a classic presentation of Pollock's work, this ambitious exhibition seeks to reveal the intellectual and artistic genesis of one of the most influential artists of the 20th century. The chronological and thematic journey offers an immersion in the period 1934-1947, a key decade, often overlooked, which was the true laboratory of his work. This phase is marked by intense experimentation, both on a technical and formal level, which prefigures the aesthetic revolution that Pollock will operate through dripping. His first engravings, sculptures and paintings bear witness to this permanent quest for a new artistic language, where matter and gesture occupy a central place.
Throughout the rooms, the exhibition reconstructs the complex puzzle of Pollock's rise, revealing the decisive moments that helped to forge not only his work, but also his myth. Indeed, the "making of the Pollock myth" begins at this time, driven by the artist's fascination with his intense lifestyle and radical experiments. The exhibition invites us to rediscover the encounters, influences and collaborations that marked his creative journey, from key figures such as Lee Krasner, his partner and artist herself, to Clement Greenberg, the influential critic who played a major role in the recognition of his work.
One of the strengths of this retrospective is to restore Pollock's singularity in all its facets: his pictorial works of course, but also his forays into engraving and sculpture, which testify to a curiosity and a spirit of constant experimentation. With his liberated pictorial gesture and his canvases in which matter seems to be in motion, Jackson Pollock opened new paths to modern art, freeing the creative act from the traditional constraints of drawing and composition. The exhibition thus highlights the intensity of his artistic commitment and the importance of his contribution to the history of art.
By restoring the artistic, intellectual and personal context in which Pollock evolved, the exhibition sheds new light on this founding period. It allows us to understand how, through a series of confrontations, experiments and encounters, Pollock forged a unique language that would revolutionize 20th-century art.
Date: from October 15, 2024 to January 19, 2025
Location: Musée Picasso
Envy: American painting, engravings, sculptures, Pollock
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