<i>Blue Poles<br /> <br />The National Gallery’s most valuable foreign work of art is Blue Poles by the American painter Jackson Pollock. The monumental abstract painting was bought by the Labor government in 1973 for A$1.3 million, which at the time was a world-record price for a contemporary American painting. The Australian press immediately vilified the painting as seeming to be the work of drunks and an emblem of the liberal excesses of the Whitlam era. However, the painting was recently loaned to the Museum of Modern Art in New York to feature in a Pollock retrospective as one of the artist’s most significant works; the museum’s chief curator, Kirk Varnedoe, expressed that he would love to have this masterpiece as part of the permanent collection. Though not for sale, if it were to be put on the market today bidding would start at at least A$45 million. </i><br /><br />Is this what you are talking about, geeze, you're so vague sometimes.... <img src="/images/icons/rolleyes.gif" /><br /><br />I remember when this painting was bought, and i have to say, bigbrain, you are right (for once). <br /><br />At $1.3 million AU, at the time i couldn't see the value in it, no appreciation for art i spose. (well i was only 11 at the time)<br /><br />But, what has this got to do with the price of chips in China??<br /><br />Why don't you respond with a decent answer, or will we get more 'crap'?<br />