Jackson Pollock's "Troubled Queen"

Though more impressive at its full size and hanging on the wall of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, the painting Troubled Queen by Jackson Pollock sparks a sense of the rebellion and surrealism of the American Modernist movement, even in this internet-accessed image. As one of Pollock's transitional pieces between his more concrete painting style to his better-known dripping technique, Troubled Queen captures the essence of a turbulent mind. By beginning with Pollock's title for the work and moving down into his specific color scheme and the images that come through the seemingly chaotic swirls, one can draw out the sense that Jackson Pollock had for analyzing and expressing the inner workings of a human mind.

Jackson Pollock's title Troubled Queen outlines the images that appear upon the canvas. If one looks closely at the swirls of paint, three faces emerge from the pandemonium. These faces are distorted, as if shaped from a nightmare. It is here where Pollock's title of the work indicates the tone of the painting. These nightmarish visages represent the fears of the mind and the burdens of life.

Pollock's color scheme also ties into the title of the painting. The dominant color, purple, has always been known as the color of royalty, that is, of a queen. The other colors, such as the splattering of yellow and blue, bring to the purple the sense of chaos due to the random shapes formed by flicking and dripping. The greys and greens lend to the dreamlike (or nightmare-like, as the case may be) quality of the work.

As a whole, Jackson Pollock's Troubled Queen serves as a representative of the American Modernist era. The painting explores the inner workings of the mind and brings them to life on a canvas. Here, some of the deepest troubles of humanity are exposed in what one could say is a disturbing way. His unique style lends a new perspective to the concept of the human imagination. The inner workings of the brain are not always light and pretty, and Pollock is able to express the reality through Troubled Queen.