Jackson Pollock's mistress Ruth Kligman claimed he painted Red, Black & Silver for her weeks before his 1956 crash, and his widow Lee Krasner and the Pollock-Krasner board rejected it

On 11 August 1956 Pollock, aged 44, drove his Oldsmobile with two passengers, Edith Metzger and his mistress, the artist Ruth Kligman, less than a mile from his home. The car crashed. Pollock and Metzger died. Kligman survived. His widow Lee Krasner, who was in Europe, controlled his legacy afterward, and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation later carried it on. Kligman, who died in 2010, spent her last 20 years saying Pollock made Red, Black & Silver for her weeks before the crash. Krasner rejected the claim. So did the Pollock-Krasner Authentication Board. In 2012 Kligman's estate offered the painting through Phillips de Pury in New York; the house withdrew it for more research. In 2013 forensic scientist Nicholas Petraco reported a polar bear hair in the work, matching a rug in Pollock's studio. A 1995 letter from dealer Leo Castelli said the painting showed skills Jackson had. As of December 2015 no museum had bought or authenticated it. Foundation counsel Ronald Spencer doubted opinion would change. Its status in 2026 is not confirmed^†. Separately, 32 paintings found by Alex Matter in 2002 were tested at Harvard, which reported anachronistic pigments^†.