Oil Painting: The Flame

The Flame by Jackson Pollock is an example of oil painting on canvas. Pollock, called "Jack the Dripper" by Time Magazine in 1956, experimented with different ways to use paint on canvas. The Flame was painted in his younger years, before he became famous for his work. Pollock was also an alcoholic, which eventually killed him at the age of 44 in a one car accident, in which he was driving. It's not a stretch to see how someone dealing with the demons of alcohol could create something like The Flame. There is some symbolism in it, surely. Most of us have vices, and some of us end up getting burned by them, which is what happened, figuratively, to Pollock.