Pollock’s ‘Elegant Lady’ for Sale as EON Raids Art Hoard – in order to continue funding their art and cultural spending Germany’s biggest utility company, EON, is selling their most valuable work of art … Jackson Pollock’s Number 5 (Elegant Lady).
In 1954 Pollock swapped the piece with art dealer Martha Jackson for an Oldsmobile convertible (the car in which he had a fatal crash in on August 11, 1956). In the 1970s the work was in the possession of Knoedler Gallery and eventually sold to the German art dealer Alfred Schmela. Veba AG (EON’s predecessor) purchased the work from Schmela in 1980 for $500,000. Today the piece is expected to bring between $15 – $20 million.
Jackson Pollock
“Number 5 (Elegant Lady)”