Ruth Kligman

Ruth Kligman (January 25, 1930 – March 1, 2010) was an American abstract artist

Personal life Kligman was involved with Jackson Pollock in 1956 for a few months before his death. She was 26 and he was 44 when they met at a gallery where she was working. He was struggling with alcoholism. On August 11, 1956, Pollock had been drinking all day before speeding and losing control of the car in which they and Edith Metzger were traveling. Pollock and Metzger died in the crash. Kligman was thrown free and suffered serious injuries. She then became involved for several years, from about 1957 to 1961, with the artist Willem de Kooning. De Kooning named a painting, Ruth's Zowie, for Kligman's exclamation at seeing it.

Kligman was married to artist Carlos Sansegundo from the mid-1960s until the late 1970s.

In popular culture In the biographical film Pollock (2000), Ed Harris starred as Pollock, and Jennifer Connelly portrayed Kligman.