Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock: The Making of American Abstraction

The exhibition at The Metropolitan Museum of Art explores the lives and work of two leading figures in postwar American painting: Lee Krasner and Jackson Pollock. 120 works by the two artists, exploring the relationship between their practices over the course of their careers. Curated by The Met’s David Breslin and Brinda Kumar, it is the first major exhibition in New York devoted to either artist in more than two decades.

When Krasner and Pollock met in New York in 1941, she was already well connected within the city’s avant-garde. She had studied with Hans Hofmann, a pivotal figure in Abstract Expressionism, participated in the American Abstract Artists group, and developed a sophisticated understanding of modernist painting. Pollock, who had arrived in New York from the American West in 1930, was still working toward the approach that would make him internationally known.

Impressed by his work after seeing his paintings in a group exhibition, Krasner sought Pollock out, recognizing an originality that had yet to find a broad audience. She used her connections to help bring his work to greater attention, introducing him to artists and gallerists, including Willem de Kooning and Sidney Janis, as well as the influential critic Clement Greenberg, who became an important champion of his work. In other words, Krasner helped Pollock gain access to the artistic and critical circles that would prove instrumental in establishing his career.

Pollock’s first solo exhibition took place at Peggy Guggenheim’s Art of This Century gallery in 1943. Guggenheim became his dealer and patron, providing financial support that allowed him to concentrate on painting. 

Jackson Pollock, Autumn Rhythm: Number 30, 1950

Jackson Pollock, Portrait and a Dream, 1953

After marrying in 1945, Krasner and Pollock moved to Springs, Long Island, seeking distance from the intensity of New York. Their life there centered on their artistic practices, punctuated by domestic routines and visits from fellow artists and friends. Although they shared a home, they worked in separate studios: Pollock in a converted barn, Krasner in an upstairs bedroom. It is during these years that Pollock developed the poured paintings that would establish him as a leading figure of Abstract Expressionism, while Krasner pursued her Little Images series and began experimenting with collage.

Pollock’s breakthrough in the late 1940s was a turning point that reshaped the relationship between the artist’s body and the canvas. In Autumn Rhythm (Number 30) (1950), lines of black, white, and brown weave across the surface, forming a continuous field without a dominant center. The viewer’s eye moves through the composition rather than settling on a single focal point.

The painting’s apparent freedom depends on an intricate balance. Each new mark changes the relationships between those already present; areas of density alternate with more open passages, and different colors emerge from beneath the web of lines. Pollock’s method made the physical act of painting inseparable from the finished image, but the resulting composition was not simply a record of unrestrained movement. It required sustained attention to the surface and its developing structure.

Krasner also worked with energetic lines and complex arrangements of forms, but she approached composition differently. Her practice spanned painting, drawing, and collage, allowing her to dismantle and reconstruct images. In Bald Eagle, for example, fragments retain traces of their earlier lives while acquiring new relationships within the composition. Where Pollock built his image through the accumulation of marks, Krasner could build hers through the removal, displacement, and reuse of existing material. The collage is unmistakably hers: she selects, cuts, and rearranges the fragments according to her own compositional decisions. The presence of his work does not diminish her authorship; it makes her transformation even more apparent.

Lee Krasner, Bald Eagle, 1955

Both artists treated painting as an evolving process rather than the execution of a fixed plan. Pollock explored what could emerge through the continuous application of paint; Krasner repeatedly tested what could be discovered by taking an image apart and putting it back together. 

Other comparisons are less direct but equally revealing. Pollock’s Full Fathom Five (1947) and Krasner’s Mosaic Table (1947) approach the painted surface through different combinations of materials and marks. Seen alongside one another, they invite questions about how each artist organized visual information, balanced density with openness, and allowed the working process to shape the final image.

Pollock’s rise to fame went hand in hand with the creation of his public image. His drip paintings came to symbolize a new American avant-garde, while critical acclaim and photographs of him at work helped build his reputation. By the end of the 1940s, he had become one of the most recognizable postwar artists. Krasner’s position was more complicated. As Pollock became more famous, her own work was increasingly seen in relation to their marriage. Public attention was largely on his achievements, while her own art received less recognition. 

Krasner after Pollock

For years, Pollock had struggled with alcoholism, which gradually took a toll on both his work and his marriage. Although he had achieved considerable success in the late 1940s, the following decade brought growing instability in his work. Krasner continued to support his career, but his addiction placed increasing strain on their relationship. Matters worsened when Pollock became involved with artist Ruth Kligman. By the summer of 1956, their marriage was in serious trouble, and Krasner left for Europe, seeking distance from the situation at home.

On August 11, 1956, Pollock crashed his convertible near his home in Springs while driving under the influence of alcohol. Pollock and his passenger, Edith Metzger, were killed in the crash, while the other passenger, artist Ruth Kligman, survived. Pollock was 44.

Pollock’s life was cut short at a moment when his work had changed the course of American painting. Krasner took charge of his estate, working to preserve his legacy and bring his art to a wider audience. Yet while his place in art history became firmly established, her own achievements took much longer to receive the recognition they deserved.

Lee Krasner, The Seasons, 1957

Krasner continued to develop her work for nearly three decades after Pollock’s death, building a body of work that stands on its own, beyond the story of their marriage. The 1957 painting The Seasons, completed shortly after Pollock’s death, offers a telling example. Its sweeping forms and energetic lines give the composition a strong sense of movement, but the painting has its own rhythm and structure. It reflects the energy of Abstract Expressionism while showing how Krasner developed an approach distinct from Pollock’s.

Her Umber paintings of the late 1950s and early 1960s took a different direction. Working mainly with browns, blacks, and other dark tones, she created dense compositions in which lines and shapes seem to emerge from the shadows. In later works, she turned to brighter colors and more open arrangements, continually changing her approach.

Collage also played an important role in Krasner’s work. By cutting up and reworking her earlier drawings and paintings, she revisited past ideas while transforming them into new compositions and exploring new directions. The exhibition’s title, Past Continuous, comes from Krasner’s 1976 painting of the same name. It captures how her work evolved over time: earlier ideas remained present, but she continually revisited and reinterpreted them. Each stage of her career grew out of what came before. 

The histories of Krasner and Pollock are intertwined, but neither can be fully understood through the other. Seen together, their work offers a broader picture of postwar American painting, recognizing Pollock’s influence while bringing greater attention to Krasner’s own artistic achievements.

Krasner and Pollock: Past Continuous
October 4, 2026–January 31, 2027
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York