1 {scene: The British Museum}
1 Minnesota Jones: Ah, the British Museum. There's a temporary exhibit of half a dozen pastel portraits by Degas. It should be around here somewhere...
2 Prof. Jones: Hmmm. Here's some paintings by that new American artist, Jackson Pollock.
3 Prof. Jones: {looking at the paintings} Not sure about his style. This will cause anarchy in the U.K.
4 Minnesota Jones: Never mind the Pollocks, here's the six pastels.

Edgar Degas was a French artist of the late 19th and early 20th century. He is considered one of the founders of Impressionism, but his works generally show a more realistic style with more restrained use of non-mixed colours than that of other Impressionists such as Monet and Renoir. In fact Degas hated the term "Impressionism", and refused to be associated with the movement. He had a long painting career and treated many subjects, but is particularly identified with his studies of ballerinas, scenes of contemporary French cafe lifestyle, and racehorses.

Jackson Pollock was an American artist of the mid-20th century, who was the leading force behind the abstract expressionist art movement. This was the first significant Western art movement to emerge in the New World, and dethroned Paris from its long reign as the centre of world art.

The use of Jackson Pollock here is slightly anachronistic, since he did all his major work after 1940. But with all the other timestream mess going on, what's a little anachronism between artists?

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2020-12-06 Rerun commentary: I've been fortunate enough to see several works by both Degas and Pollock in various museums around the world.

If you've never been to an art museum, go some time. Even if you don't think you like art - if you've never seen it in person it's a completely different experience to seeing reproductions on a screen or in a book. You might just like it.