What Makes a “Good” Painting?

Review: Blue Poles, Tom McIlroy, Hachette In 1973 the Whitlam Government bought Jackson Pollock’s painting Blue Poles for an at-the-time whopping $2 million, destined for the as-yet-unbuilt national gallery in Canberra. (For comparison, the median house price was less than $20,000.) The purchase was a major cultural step forward for Australia, but it was controversial, […]