This month marks the 62nd anniversary of the untimely passing of one of America’s most creative and important artists, Jackson Pollock. He painted a total of 363 paintings in his short 44 years of life. The circumstances around his death were tragic and are widely known, in part, thanks to the Hollywood movie Pollock. What is less talked about is how many paintings he would have left this world with had he been able to get help with his struggle with alcohol and depression and lived a full life.

According to data from the CDC on estimated life expectancy at birth, males born in the United States in 1912 lived to an average age of 51.9 years. Pollock passed away at the age of 44, so this would suggest he missed out on 8 years. This average felt low to me, so I decided to look at the other men in the Pollock family to better understand Jackson’s lifespan, had he not battled alcohol and depression. Using Ancestry.com, I built out an abbreviated Pollock family tree. On average, Jackson's brothers, uncles, and grandfathers, lived to an average age of 70 years old. This would suggest Jackson more likely missed out on 26 years of life. How many of those years could/would he have painted?