An important 1950 Jackson Pollock drip painting has been donated to the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive. "Number 6" is the only painting from the artist's so-called classic period in the museum's public collection, according to museum director Jacquelynn Baas.

The anonymous gift is 35x36 inches, small in comparison to the heroic canvases in which Pollock developed his agitated homogenous surface with densely interwoven and irregular nets of paint.

"We are delighted to add a work by this major artist to our collection, which is strong in Abstract Expressionist paintings," Baas said in making the announcement.