How did Pollock create drip paintings?

Pollock laid unstretched canvas on the floor and moved around it, dripping paint from sticks, brushes, and cans. He called this 'action painting.' The physical process became part of the artwork.

Why is One: Number 31 important?

The painting represents the peak of Pollock's drip period (1947-1950). Its scale and energy helped establish Abstract Expressionism as the dominant art movement of the postwar era.

Why did Pollock use numbers for titles?

Pollock numbered works to avoid suggesting subject matter. He wanted viewers to experience the paintings purely, without narrative associations. 'One' was added later for a retrospective.

Where to See One: Number 31, 1950 in New York

One: Number 31, 1950

by Jackson Pollock, 1950

StyleAbstract Expressionism

MediumOil Canvas

Year: 1950
Medium: Oil and enamel paint on canvas
Size: 269.5 cm × 530.8 cm (106.1 × 209 in)

Where to See It

Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

New York, USA

Permanently housed

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The Artist

Jackson Pollock

1912–1956

American

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Jackson Pollock made this One: Number 31, 1950 using his radical drip technique. The massive canvas (nearly 9 by 18 feet) lay on the floor while Pollock moved around it, dripping, pouring, and flicking enamel paint from sticks and hardened brushes.

The result is a dense web of black, white, and tan lines with no focal point or composition in the traditional sense. Pollock called it "energy and motion made visible." The painting marked the peak of Abstract Expressionism and established New York as the new center of the art world. It hangs in MoMA.

More by Jackson Pollock

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Summertime: Number 9A

Jackson Pollock, 1948

Tate Modern, London, London

Also at Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

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One: Number 31, 1950