Jackson Pollock’s Blue poles (1952), which measures more than four metres long, is the pride of the National Gallery of Australia (NGA) in Canberra. Rarely lent, it has made a longer journey than most of the works on show in the Royal Academy of Arts’ Abstract Expressionism show, which opens this weekend (24 September-2 January 2017) in London. The NGA’s director, Gerard Vaughan, has also travelled from Canberra to London. Acquired in 1973, the purchase caused a ruckus at the time. Critics denounced it as an example of the prime minister’s profligacy: Gough Whitlam gave the OK to the A$1.3m purchase amid the global oil crisis. It now seems something of a bargain. Vaughan is understandably nostalgic about the 1970s. It was a “miraculous” moment, he says. “For the first and only time there was a large amount of money for acquisitions”, he says. “We have a big Clyfford Still, two Rothkos, a Lee Krasner,” plus another Pollock and three De Koonings, making the NGA’s one of the finest collections of the New York School outside the US.