1912–1956

Jackson Pollack moved to New York in 1930 where he studied at the Art Students League, participated in the Greenwich Village arts scene, and met Peggy Guggenheim (founder of the Guggenheim Museum), who would fund much of his later work and help him achieve popular success. The sale of his painting The She–Wolf to the Museum of Modern Art in 1943 marked the beginning of his fame. He married Lee Krasner in 1945, and soon developed the technique for his rhythmical, paint–splattered pieces, created by pouring paint directly onto the canvas. Pollack was never completely reconciled to his own success as and was known for outlandish behavior at parties; he died in a drunk driving accident in 1956.