Azernews.Az

By Alimat Aliyeva

A painting by Jackson Pollock, widely described as one of the first truly abstract masterpieces in modern art history, has sold for an astonishing $181 million (£135 million) at an auction in New York, AzerNEWS reports, citing foreign media.

The artwork, Number 7A, 1948, went under the hammer at Christie's on Monday, setting a new auction record for the late American artist.

Previously owned by media billionaire S. I. Newhouse, the painting is now considered the fourth most expensive artwork ever sold at auction, according to ARTnews.

The collection also included a bronze sculpture by Constantin Brancusi titled Danaide, which sold for $107.6 million — making it the second most expensive sculpture ever auctioned.

Pollock, who died in 1956, became one of the leading figures of the Abstract Expressionist movement. His revolutionary “drip painting” technique transformed postwar art and remains one of the most recognizable and frequently imitated styles in contemporary painting.

Before this sale, Pollock’s auction record stood at $61.2 million for Number 17, 1951, sold in 2021. However, several of his works are believed to have fetched even higher prices through private sales.

Christie’s described Number 7A, 1948 — a massive canvas stretching more than three meters wide, covered in energetic black paint drips with flashes of red — as a landmark work in the history of abstract art.

An interesting detail is that Pollock created many of his iconic works by placing canvases directly on the floor and moving around them while pouring and splashing paint. This unconventional approach changed the way artists interacted with the canvas and influenced generations of modern and contemporary painters around the world.