Basquiat was born in Brooklyn to parents of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent. He loved art as a child and regularly visited museums with his mother. At the age of seven he was hospitalised after being hit by a car. While recuperating, he devoured a copy of Gray’s Anatomy, fascinated by its diagrams of the human form. The skull, in particular, would feature heavily in his practice: works such as Untitled (1982) and In This Case (1983) — both sold at Christie’s — stand among his most expensive paintings at auction.
Basquiat started his career painting graffiti on Manhattan’s Lower East Side under the pseudonym SAMO. Major early exhibitions, including The Times Square Show in 1980 and New York/New Wave in 1981, quickly brought him to the attention of the art world. In 1981 Basquiat made the transition from street to studio after the gallerist Annina Nosei provided him with his first workspace in SoHo. That year the critic Rene Ricard published his seminal article ‘The Radiant Child’, describing him as the lovechild of Jean Dubuffet and Cy Twombly. By 1982, Basquiat had skyrocketed onto the global stage.
Basquiat’s works reflect the extraordinary breadth of his cultural imagination. Influences ranging from cartoons, hip hop and Beat poetry to African tribal art, antiquities and the work of Pablo Picasso surge across their surfaces. Words, symbols and phrases recur like talismans, referencing street culture, music, history and the spectre of global consumerism. Often his figures represent self-portraits; others depict Black heroes from fields such as boxing and jazz. Many bear his signature crown motif, reflecting his complex relationship with fame and fortune. Basquiat also produced a number of works in collaboration with Pop Art veteran Andy Warhol, with whom he became close friends.
After Basquiat died in 1988, his comrade Keith Haring published a tribute in Vogue. ‘Greedily we wonder what masterpieces we might have been cheated out of by his death,’ he wrote; ‘…only now will people begin to understand the magnitude of his contribution.’ Indeed, with each passing year, Basquiat’s paintings and drawings continue to reveal new layers of meaning, each a hymn to the flux, multiplicity and simultaneity of human experience.
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Untitled
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Untitled (Egg) [Two Works]
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
In This Case
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile)
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Untitled
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Dustheads
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Warrior
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
The Guilt of Gold Teeth
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
The Field Next to the Other Road
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
La Hara
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Untitled
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Sugar Ray Robinson
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
The Italian Version of Popeye has no Pork in his Diet
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Untitled (One Eyed Man or Xerox Face)
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Untitled
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Untitled
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Untitled
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Untitled
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Red Skull
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Donut Revenge
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Discography Two
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Untitled
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Flash in Naples
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Jim Crow
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Multiflavors
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Il Duce
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown)
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Untitled
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Untitled (Boxer)
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Untitled (Soap)
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Palm Springs Jump
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Future Sciences Versus the Man
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Self-Portrait
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Untitled
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Because it Hurts the Lungs
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Blue Heads
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Sabado por la Noche (Saturday Night)
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Untitled (Self Portrait)
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (USA, 1960-1988)
Untitled (Orange Sports Figure)
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Do Not Revenge
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Untitled
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Untitled
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Untitled (Pablo Picasso)
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Made in Japan I
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Untitled
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
His Glue Sniffing Valet
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988)
Dos Cabezas
JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT (1960-1988)
Love Dub for A