''Convergence'' is a 1952 oil painting by

Jackson Pollock Paul Jackson Pollock (; January 28, 1912August 11, 1956) was an American painter and a major figure in the abstract expressionist movement. He was widely noticed for his " drip technique" of pouring or splashing liquid household paint onto a ho ...

Composition

Convergence is one of the paintings by American artist

, who is known as a representative of

abstract expressionism Abstract expressionism is a post–World War II art movement in American painting, developed in New York City in the 1940s. It was the first specifically American movement to achieve international influence and put New York at the center of the ...

. The composition was created on canvas, measuring 93.5 inches by 155 inches. It is an oil painting, which constitutes a wide range of colors, lines and shapes, made by a method of dripping and pouring paint onto a canvas.

Reception and analysis

These lines, spots, circles splattered on a canvas unintentionally convey the artist's emotions. The painting was made during the Cold War with Russia, and it is considered that the painting represents the idea of freedom of speech. Other scholars, including

Yve-Alain Bois Yve-Alain Bois (born April 16, 1952) is a professor of Art History at the School of Historical Studies at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey. Education Bois received an M.A. from the École Pratique des Hautes Études ...

, have posited that this type of individualistic interpretation fails to account for how Pollock allowed the forces of

gravity In physics, gravity () is a fundamental interaction which causes mutual attraction between all things with mass or energy. Gravity is, by far, the weakest of the four fundamental interactions, approximately 1038 times weaker than the str ...

and fluidity--not his own hand--to direct the pooling and mixing of the paint.Bois, Yve-Alain. “Whose Formalism?” ''The Art Bulletin'' 78, no. 1 (March 1996): 11–12.

Influence

Springbok Editions made the

jigsaw puzzle A jigsaw puzzle is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaiced pieces, each of which typically has a portion of a picture. When assembled, the puzzle pieces produce a complete picture. In t ...

called Convergence in 1964 based on the Pollock's painting. The puzzle consisted of 340 pieces and it was claimed as the most difficult puzzle in the world. The puzzle gained popularity in 1965 when hundreds of thousands of Americans acquired the puzzle.

References

External links

Convergence by Jackson Pollock
* Abstract expressionism Paintings by Jackson Pollock 1952 paintings {{20C-painting-stub

Composition

Reception and analysis

Influence

See also

References

External links