Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner, Springs, New York, 1949.  Photo by Martha Holmes—Time & Life Pictures.

Jackson and his wife Lee lived in near poverty for years, relying on financial support from friends such as artist Alfonso Ossorio. Ossorio, a wealthy Surrealist painter, was the only person to buy a painting from Pollock’s 1950 show at Betty Parsons. The painting, later to be known as Lavender Mist, was sold by Ossorio in 1976 for $2 million.  (L)