Huge 20th Century Art show to be mounted at The Royal Academy

A Rothko

One of Pollock’s works

On September 24 The Royal Academy will open to display 165 works in its 20th Century art exhibition.  The value of the collection is estimated to be worth more than £1bn and includes Pollocks, one of which has a rare story to go with it.

Blue Poles by Pollock painted in 1952 (Pollock was born in 1912) was sold to his friend Ben Heller for $32,000 who then sold it to the National Gallery of Australia in 1973 for A$1.3m who had to seek permission from the then Prime Minister Gough Whitlam – it caused Gough Whitlam to lose his job due to the public outcry at the amount of money it was bought for.  Heller apparently thought this was funny.

It is said that the work contains glass pieces as well as blood as when it was being painted Pollock and his friend were drinking and broke glasses then walked on the pieces before then walking on the canvas.

Because of the value of the exhibits which also includes De Kooning, the Royal Academy decline to reveal the date they will be arriving in Britain.They include self portraits by Rothko and Pollock.

The kind of prices paid for these works include Interchange by De Kooning and Number 17A by Pollock  for a total of £380M and Rothko’s Number 6 (Violet Green and Red) bought by Russian businessman Dimitry Ryboloviev for £119m in 2014.

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