Jackson Pollock's car crash

Jackson Pollock's car crash enters the diary as a brief account encountered in a book, rather than as a scene witnessed or described in detail. In recalling Ruth Kligman's version, Andy Warhol connects her driving Pollock crazy in the car with his subsequent collision with a pole.

The Account in the Diary

Warhol notes that he has read the Ruth Kligman book again and summarizes its account in a single sentence: Kligman was driving Pollock crazy in the car, and that was when he ran into the pole. The entry supplies no further particulars about the journey, the collision, or its immediate consequences, so the crash remains bounded by this compact retelling.

A Recalled Event

The diary presents the crash at one remove, as something Warhol encountered while reading and then passed on in his own record. Its emphasis falls on the book's connection between Kligman and the moment of impact, not on reconstructing the accident. The event's significance here lies in that compressed chain of recollection: a reread book, Kligman's presence in the car, and Pollock's collision with a pole.