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The Key

Abstract painting with dominant red, yellow, and blue tones. Densely commingled forms, many outlined in black or brown strokes, fill the canvas.
© 2018 Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

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  • Abstract painting with dominant red, yellow, and blue tones. Densely commingled forms, many outlined in black or brown strokes, fill the canvas.

Date:

1946

Artist:

Jackson Pollock
American, 1912-1956

About this artwork

The Key belongs to Jackson Pollock’s Accabonac Creek series, named for a stream near the East Hampton property that he and his wife, the painter Lee Krasner, purchased in late 1945. Marking a crucial moment in his evolution as an artist, this quasi-Surrealist painting was created on the floor of an upstairs bedroom and worked on directly from all sides. Although there is a general suggestion of landscape, here the process of painting became primary, expressing the power of spontaneous action and chance effects. The resulting abstraction, with its expressive, gestural appearance, prefigured the allover compositions of Pollock’s celebrated drip paintings, which debuted the following year.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Contemporary Art

Artist

Jackson Pollock

Title

The Key

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1946

Medium

Oil on linen

Inscriptions

Signed and dated: recto: "Jackson Pollock 46" (lower left in black paint); not inscribed on verso

Dimensions

Unframed: 149.8 × 208.3 cm (59 × 82 1/16 in.); 149.9 × 208.3 cm (59 × 82 in.)

Credit Line

Through prior gift of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Morris

Reference Number

1987.261

Copyright

© 2018 Pollock-Krasner Foundation / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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