Physicists explain the science of Jackson Pollock's painting methods
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
You are now subscribed
Your newsletter sign-up was successful
Have you ever thought you could splatter paint just as well as Jackson Pollock? Fluid dynamicists at the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico in Mexico City are hard at work studying the famed artist's "paint dripping techniques" in order to determine his exact process.
To create his signature "densely tangled lines of color," Pollock used simple household enamel paints, the American Physical Society (APS) notes. The physicists' experiment used a controlled machine to recreate and study the paint dripping process, changing the speed and height of the paint dripping machine to better recreate Pollock's unique works.
(Facebook.com/Guggenheim Museum)
Article continues belowThe Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"In our lab we have the inability to say 'no' to an interesting fluid mechanics problem, and fluid mechanics can be used to understand painting, since it is essentially a flow problem," mechanical engineering professor Roberto Zenit said in a statement.
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Meghan DeMaria is a staff writer at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked for USA Today and Marie Claire.
