One of Jackson Pollock's iconic drip paintings will be making its way to Christie's next month for the auction house's upcoming Evening Sale of Contemporary Art. The painting, slapped with the serial title "Number 19," is expected to fetch anywhere between $25 and 35 million, and represents, according to Christie's, the "most important work by Pollock in the last two decades."
Two employees Christie's auction house wearing white gloves pose for the media as they hold a painting by US abstract expressionist Jackson Pollock entitled Number 19, during a press preview in London, Wednesday, April, 10, 2013. The work is expected to sell for some 16.3 - 22.8 million pounds (US$25-35 million euros19-26.7 million) when sold at auction in New York on May 15 .(AP Photo/Alastair Grant)
The 1948 painting does have a substantial history to back up its hefty price tag. The piece was created during Pollock's three-year experiment with drip techniques that happened between 1947 and 1950, a period of time when the Wyoming-born artist is thought to have mastered his method of pouring and splattering enamel paint on unprimed canvases. Clement Greenberg, modern art critic extraordinaire, had this to say about the piece: “The general quality that emerged from such pictures, especially [Number] Nineteen, seemed more than enough to justify the claim that Pollock is one of the major painters of our time.”
The estimated price on Pollock's silver, black and white canvas is nothing, however, compared to the cost of his 'Number 5' painting. That work, sold to Mexican financier David Martinez in 2006, garnered a shocking $140 million.
So what do you think, readers? Is $25-35 million a bargain for his nineteenth drip masterpiece? Scroll through the slideshow below to see how 'Number 19' stacks up to last year's most expensive auction items.
The Evening Contemporary Art Sale will take place on May 15, 2013 at Christie's in New York.
The Biggest Art Auction Sales of 2012
Correction: In a previous version of this article, the last paragraph incorrectly stated the work's expected price as "a quarter of a million dollars." The sentence has since been updated.
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