NO.5, 1948

No. 5, 1948 is a painting by Jackson Pollock, an American painter known for his contributions to the Abstract Expressionist movement. This painting was sold in May 2006 for $140 million. The painting was done on an 8' x 4' sheet of fiberboard, with thick amounts of brown and yellow paint drizzled on top of it, forming a nest-like appearance. For the paint, Pollock chose to use liquid paints. More specifically, they were synthetic resin paints (gloss enamel) but are referred to as oil paints for classification of the work. He used unique methods to make his drips. On inspection it was grey, brown, white and yellow paint drizzled in a way that many people still perceive as a "dense bird’s nest".

It was initially purchased by Alfonso A. Ossorio during an exhibition in 1949 for 1,500 dollars, who was looking for a paint drip work to add to his collection. While the painting was being shipped, it was damaged, so Pollock attempted several times to repair the damage by painting over it, but Osorio claimed that he could tell the difference. Pollock instead ended up repainting almost the whole thing, resulting in a different painting from the original, and he reportedly stated that no one would ever be able to tell the difference because no one ever knows how to “look at” his paintings. Ossorio did notice the difference, but he found it to be a positive change, and described the painting as having more depth of character, but still retaining the essence of the original, and even expanding on it. Ossorio calls "a wonderful example of an artist having a second chance". The follwing are his famous paintings.