In August 1973, the Whitlam Government purchased Jackson Pollock's 'Blue Poles' for $1.3 million, the most ever spent on a US artwork at the time.
In August 1973 the Australian Government, through the National Gallery of Australia's acting director, James Mollison, bought Blue Poles by Jackson Pollock. The painting cost $1.3 million – the most ever paid for an American painting in the world at that time.
The documentary highlights the enduring legacy that the late Ben Heller, art dealer and close friend of Pollock, leaves to the people of Australia through his role in the acquisition of Blue poles by the National Gallery of Australia.
New York property mogul Ben Heller ultimately sold the painting to the NGA for US$1.9 million (then A$1.3m). Unusually, the Australian government as buyer paid the dealer's fee of A$100,000. This was the highest price paid for an American art work at the time.
Gough Whitlam visiting Blue poles, which was purchased by the National Gallery of Australia in 1973. David Bartho. Yet as Linda Morris reports today, the painting is now an unquestioned masterpiece and has increased in value to $500 million.
Mollison and Heller agreed Pollock would have liked his monumental painting to be in Australia. The acquisition of Blue Poles, however, sparked a major controversy in Australia as people protested against the high price paid for it – in fact, it was the highest price every paid for an American painting at that time.
In 2020, his 1974 work Henri's Armchair broke the auction record for the most expensive Australian painting when it was sold for AU $6.1 million to a Sydney art collector.
"Jackson Pollock's Blue Poles is by far the most valuable artwork in the National Collection because it's one of the most important works of the 20th Century," an NGA spokesperson said.
Blue poles was first exhibited as 'Number 11, 1952' in Pollock's solo show at Sidney Janis Gallery in New York in November 1952. Two years later, he gave it the descriptive title 'Blue poles', which refers to the eight dark vertical stripes that interrupt the swirling surface.
Yes, the painting in on display in the International galleries on level 2, and is visible during opening hours, albeit with some equipment that visitors wouldn't always see.
Edward Hartley, CEO and Co-Founder of Bluethumb On The Intersection of Technology and Art.
While in many ways continuing his now trademark 'all-over' composition, Pollock pushed his endeavours in abstraction further by introducing the bold presence of the eight blue 'poles' that intersect the canvas.
You know the painting – that big canvas, more than two metres high and almost five metres wide, spattered with paint like a decorator's ground sheet. It was painted in 1952 and now hangs proudly in the National Gallery of Australia, which bought it back in 1973.
The Mona Lisa is priceless. Any speculative price (some say over a billion dollars!) would probably be so high that not one person would be able or willing to purchase and maintain the painting. Moreover, the Louvre Museum would probably never sell it.
Jackson Pollock's drip paintings have stamped his place in the art world as a pioneering abstract expressionist. His works have sold for some of the highest prices ever recorded for paintings, with his masterpiece Number 5 1948, selling for an astounding $140 million at Christie's in 2006.
While Indigenous Australians have inhabited the continent for tens of thousands of years, and traded with nearby islanders, the first documented landing on Australia by a European was in 1606. The Dutch explorer Willem Janszoon landed on the western side of Cape York Peninsula and charted about 300 km of coastline.
At the time of the painting's creation, Pollock preferred not to assign names to his works, but rather numbers; hence, the original title of the painting was simply Number 11 or No. 11 for the year 1952.
The poles painted in an orderly pattern were smashed vertically on the canvas's surface but at different angles. A footprint at the top right corner of the painting–the artist had the habit of treading over the painting with bare feet during the painting process.
During the late 1940s and early 1950s Pollock had a one-man show nearly every year, and in 1952 he moved to the Sidney Janis Gallery. The major new work on his first exhibition there was Blue Poles.
The majority of power poles are made from Australian hardwood timbers such as Spotted Gum, Ironbark, Blackbutt, Grey Box, Tallow Wood and Blood Wood.
These poles need to be galvanised or painted periodically to prevent them from corrosion.
A colorful painting of two Tahitian women by Paul Gauguin has reportedly been sold by a Swiss family foundation to a group of state museums in Qatar for nearly $300 million, a record sum for a single work of art.
The most expensive paintings in the world
The most expensive painting ever sold is the Salvator Mundi, the Saviour of the World in English, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci.
Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci
The New York Times reported the buyer was acting for a Saudi prince, Bader bin Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Farhan al-Saud—the painting has since been under the ownership of the Saudi Arabian culture ministry.