Painted in 24 Hours? Jackson Pollock's Mural

Was the famous work painted over a single night? See it at the Getty Center.

Artworks and books and operas beloved by many always gather a goodly dose of mystique along their journeys, but none more so than those famous pieces that famously took only hours, days, or weeks to construct and compose.

Ray Bradbury wrote the first draft of "Fahrenheit 451" in under two weeks, and Franz Schubert was known for turning out musical compositions at a rather quick clip. And Jackson Pollock? Myths have followed the painter, including one that says he painted his Mural, a gargantuan and complex work commissioned by Peggy Guggenheim, over a single frenetic night.

Scholars have asked the question of the piece's evolution and backstory during recent conservation efforts, and now the public can, too: Mural goes on display at the Getty Center from Tuesday, March 11 through Sunday, June 1.

The piece, which is over 19 feet in length, arrived at the Getty Center in 2012 direct from its longtime home at the University of Iowa Art Museum. Scholars and conservation experts have spent a lot of hours poring over Pollock's iconic pouring methods, and the types of paint used (including white house paint).

Whether Mural came together in under 24 hours will surely be topic bandied about by visitors who stand before the mid-century masterwork, which was created for Ms. Guggenheim's New York City apartment in 1943, specifically the entryway.

That's quite the dramatic entrance.

Consider its history and its brief -- or not-so-brief -- moment of birth, the Getty Center's West Pavilion starting on March 11.

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Admission is free, parking is $15.

photo: Scott S. Warren

University of Iowa Museum of Art, Gift of Peggy Guggenheim, 1959.6

photo copyright: J. Paul Getty Trust

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