Born in Cody, Wyoming, in 1912, Jackson Pollock was a pioneering American artist and one of the most prominent figures in the abstract expressionist movement. Best known for his revolutionary drip painting process, Pollock’s work pushed the limits yet again, challenging already well established painting conventions.

Pollock’s drip paintings, in which he doused and dripped paint onto canvases spread out on the ground, were a revolutionary break from the traditional forms of painting. Figures like “Number 1A, 1948” and “Autumn Rhythm” are known for their dynamic energy, spontaneous gestures and interlaced, web-like patterns.

His interest influenced Pollock’s innovative approach to painting in Jungian psychology, Native American art and his own struggles with alcoholism and mental health. His canvases became arenas for probing the subconscious and the act of creation itself.

Jackson Pollock Quotes

1. “I do not paint nature. I am nature.”
— Jackson Pollock

2. “Art is coming face to face with yourself.”
— Jackson Pollock

3. “Love is friendship set to music.”
— Jackson Pollock

4. “I can control the flow of paint: there is no accident.”
— Jackson Pollock

5. “Painting is self-discovery. Every good artist paints what he is.”
— Jackson Pollock

6. “I am doubtful of any talent, so whatever I choose to be, will be accomplished only by long study and work.”
— Jackson Pollock

7. “Energy and motion made visible – memories arrested in space.”
— Jackson Pollock

8. “There is no accident, just as there is no beginning and no end.”
— Jackson Pollock

9. “If people would just look at the paintings, I don’t think they would have any trouble enjoying them. It’s like looking at a bed of flowers, you don’t tear your hair out over what it means.”
— Jackson Pollock

10. “The painting has a life of its own.”
— Jackson Pollock

11. “A method of painting is a natural growth out of a need. I want to express my feelings rather than illustrate them. Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement.”
— Jackson Pollock

12. “My painting does not come from the easel.”
— Jackson Pollock

13. “When I am in my painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing.”
— Jackson Pollock

14. “People have always frightened and bored me consequently I have been within my own shell.”
— Jackson Pollock

15. “A man’s life is his work; his work is his life.”
— Jackson Pollock

16. “It doesn’t matter how the paint is put on, as long as something is said.”
— Jackson Pollock

17. “My concern is with the rhythms of nature I work inside out, like nature.”
— Jackson Pollock

18. “On the floor I am more at ease. I feel nearer, more part of the painting, since this way I can walk around it, work from the four sides and literally be in the painting.”
— Jackson Pollock

19. “Abstract painting is abstract. It confronts you. There was a reviewer a while back who wrote that my pictures didn’t have any beginning or any end. He didn’t mean it as a compliment, but it was.”
— Jackson Pollock

20. “Painting is no problem. The problem is what to do when you’re not painting.”
— Jackson Pollock

21. “I’ve been thinking of death a lot, and I am amazed by its inevitability, frightened, as we all are, of the totally unknown, and yet feel a long sleep is somehow earned by those of us who live on the edge.”
— Jackson Pollock

22. “The modern artist is working with space and time, and expressing his feelings rather than illustrating.”
— Jackson Pollock

23. “A real friend is someone you say a sentence to and they know ten thousand words behind that sentence.”
— Jackson Pollock

24. “The process is only a means to an end-creating the painting I want. It doesn’t mean anything itself. It’s only a way of creating a result.”
— Jackson Pollock

25. “It is only when I lose contact with the painting that the result is a mess. Otherwise there is pure harmony, an easy give and take, and the painting comes out well.”
— Jackson Pollock

26. “You can’t learn techniques and then try to become a painter. Techniques are a result.”
— Jackson Pollock

27. “I don’t work from drawings. I don’t make sketches and drawings and color sketches into a final painting.”
— Jackson Pollock

28. “I don’t work from drawings and colour sketches into a final painting. Painting, I think, today – the more immediate, the more direct – the greater the possibilities of making a direct – of making a statement.”
— Jackson Pollock

29. “The painter locks himself out of his own studio. And then has to break in like a thief.”
— Jackson Pollock

30. “A canvas is an arena in which to act.”
— Jackson Pollock

31. “The pictures I contemplate painting would constitute a halfway state and attempt to point out the direction of the future – without arriving there completely.”
— Jackson Pollock

32. “I don’t use the accident – ’cause I deny the accident.”
— Jackson Pollock

33. “How do you know when you’re finished making love?”
— Jackson Pollock

34. “I want to express my feelings rather than illustrate them.”
— Jackson Pollock

35. “I continue to get further away from the usual painter’s tools such as easel, palette, brushes, etc. I prefer sticks, trowels, knives and dripping fluid paint or a heavy impasto with sand, broken glass or other foreign matter added.”
— Jackson Pollock

36. “I have no fear of making changes, destroying the image, etc., because the painting has a life of its own.”
— Jackson Pollock

37. “Technic is the result of a need new needs demand new technics total control denial of the accident States of order organic intensity energy and motion made visible memories arrested in space, human needs and motives acceptance.”
— Jackson Pollock

38. “When I say artist I mean the man who is building things – creating molding the earth – whether it be the plains of the west – or the iron ore of Penn. It’s all a big game of construction – some with a brush – some with a shovel – some choose a pen.”
— Jackson Pollock

39. “Technique is just a means of arriving at a statement.”
— Jackson Pollock

40. “The strangeness will wear off and I think we will discover the deeper meanings in modern art.”
— Jackson Pollock

41. “When I’m painting, I’m not aware of what I’m doing. It’s only after a get acquainted period that I see what I’ve been about. I’ve no fears about making changes for the painting has a life of its own.”
— Jackson Pollock

42. “I’ve had a period of drawing on canvas in black – with some of my early images coming thru -, think the non-objectivists will find them disturbing – and the kids who think it simple to splash a ‘Pollock’ out.”
— Jackson Pollock

43. “I’m very representational some of the time, and a little all of the time. But when you’re painting out of your unconscious, figures are bound to emerge.”
— Jackson Pollock

44. “My paintings do not have a center, but depend on the same amount of interest throughout.”
— Jackson Pollock

45. “He drove his kind of realism at me so hard I bounced right into nonobjective painting.”
— Jackson Pollock

46. “Abstract painting is abstract. It confronts you…”
— Jackson Pollock

47. “Today painters do not have to go to a subject matter outside of themselves. Most modern painters work from a different source. They work from within.”
— Jackson Pollock

48. “Well, painting today certainly seems very vibrant, very alive, very exiting. Five or six of my contemporaries around New York are doing very vital work, and the direction that painting seems to be taken here – is – away from the easel – into some sort, some kind of wall, wall painting…”
— Jackson Pollock

49. “Bums are the well-to-do of this day. They didn’t have as far to fall.”
— Jackson Pollock

50. “As to what I would like to be, it is difficult to say. An artist of some kind. If nothing else I shall always study the Arts.”
— Jackson Pollock

51. “I hardly ever stretch the canvas before painting.”
— Jackson Pollock

52. “New needs need new techniques.”
— Jackson Pollock

Why Pollock’s Words Resonate

Quotes by Jackson Pollock offer deep reflections on the mindset of a ground-breaking artist. As well, his focus on freedom, expression, and self-discovery has continued to inspire creatives whom seek to push their ingenuity beyond the edge.

Conclusion

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and Jackson Pollock come from different times and different schools of art, but they are all connected by one through line: an unapologetic fidelity to the work that they do and a powerful influence on the art world. For they read: Judging by what they say, they remind us all of how art can go beyond borders and speak of the human condition. Which artist’s philosophy resonates most with you? Let us know in the comments!