“You can talk about light, scale, depth, beauty, color, shape, form, perspective,” the great mid-century abstract painter Helen Frankenthaler once said, “but it’s no formula of those things that make ...

It’s easy to dismiss Jackson Pollock’s No. 5, 1948 as a senseless splatter of paint—but even if you can’t appreciate its aesthetic, this piece of art has a history that’s worth its weight in house ...