'Blue Poles’ by Jackson Pollack was purchased by the National Gallery of Australia for $2 million US dollars in 1973 under much controversy and criticism. Painted four years before Pollack’s death in 1956, the purchase price set a new record for Pollock and was at the time, the most expensive American painting ever sold.
'Blue Poles’ was painted at the height of Pollock’s career and fame, and is a perfect example of abstract expressionism action painting. Pollock has used his characteristic method of dripping, splattering and pouring fluid paint in a continuous stream onto the canvas from above, using sticks, dried brushes or syringes. Pollock allowed his full body movement to be engaged, and you can see his grand, sweeping lines of flung paint. The focus on the physical action is evident, Pollock’s physical arc of the arm as it swings across the canvas can be seen in the brightly coloured dry paint.
I highly recommend this short documentary on Jackson Pollock and the purchase of ‘Blue Poles’: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMgz-p0jjBI&feature=youtu.be