THE LIFE AND ART OF JACKSON POLLOCK ; He was a drunk, a depressive and a wife-beater. Many say he was also a genius. As one of his paintings sells for a record $140m, David Usborne looks at the private side of 'Jack the Dripper ' ++ Portrait of the artist

If he were alive today, Jackson Pollock, the American painter who electrified the art world with his eruptions of swirling lines and squiggles, would be puzzled by the news. How could it possibly be that one of his paintings - not a Picasso, a Gauguin or Van Gogh - has become the most valuable in history?

After all, not everyone has ever been quite convinced about Pollock and his genius, never mind that he was a drunk, a philanderer and a depressive. Isn't it possible that you or I could splatter some paint around on an empty canvas and command an entire wall of the Museum of Modern…