Topline
Brooklyn-born Jean-Michel Basquiat was among best-selling artists at auction in 2021, with more than a dozen of his works selling for upwards of $400 million collectively, as his larger-than-life paintings experience a renaissance more than 30 years after his sudden death at age 27.
Key Facts
The priciest Basquiat work to sell at auction in 2021 was “In This Case,” a massive painting of one of the artist’s trademark skulls that fetched $93.1 million in May and was the second most expensive artwork sold publicly this year after “Femme assise près d'une fenêtre (Marie-Therese)” by Pablo Picasso.
Three other Basquiat works brought in $40 million or more each at auction this year – “Versus Medici,” for $50.8 million, “Warrior” for $41.8 million and “The Guilt of Gold Teeth” for $40 million – a feat previously achieved by only four of Basquiat’s paintings, cementing 2021 as a watershed year for the late artist’s work on the market.
A portrait of Basquiat by his frequent collaborator Andy Warhol also sold for more than $40 million in November, with representatives of auction house Christie’s saying they believe Basquiat’s image will one day be just as recognizable — if not more well-known — as the subjects of Warhol’s other popular portraits, like Marilyn Monroe, Elvis and Elizabeth Taylor.
Basquiat’s surge in popularity is thanks in part to the Black Lives Matter movement, which has pushed the art industry to turn a fresh eye to artists of color and their work.
Many of Basquiat’s paintings contain references to his Black identity and deal with themes that still endure today – one of his paintings, “Defacement (The Death of Michael Stewart),” depicts police brutality and was inspired by Michael Stewart, a Black artist who died after he was allegedly beaten by New York transit police officers in 1983 for spray painting graffiti in a subway station.
Basquiat has also been introduced to a younger generation through his estate’s frequent collaborations with brands like Coach and Dr. Martens and the inclusion of one of his paintings in a Tiffany’s advertisement starring Beyoncé and Jay-Z (who has collected the artist’s work for years), though the deals have faced criticism by some of the late artist's collaborators and friends who say his work is being exploited.
What To Watch For
Last week, Basquiat’s estate announced the opening of the first exhibition organized and curated by his family. “King Pleasure” will open in April in New York and feature more than 200 rarely-seen works by the artist.
Key Background
Basquiat was born in Park Slope, Brooklyn, in 1960 to a father from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, and a mother from a Brooklyn family of Puerto Rican descent. When Basquiat was 7 years old, he was hit by a car and spent months recovering in the hospital. To keep him entertained, Basquiat’s mother gave him a copy of the human anatomy reference book “Gray’s Anatomy,” which the artist would be inspired by for the rest of his life and which influenced his visceral depictions of the human body, especially the skull. Basquiat’s art career began in the late 1970’s as part of the graffiti duo SAMO with his school friend Al Diaz. Together, they tagged buildings all over Manhattan’s Lower East Side. In 1981, Basquiat sold his first painting “Cadillac Moon” to Blondie singer Debbie Harry for $200 after the two met filming a music video. Within several years, Basquiat’s work starred in solo exhibitions all over the U.S. and Europe and by the mid-1980’s Basquiat was earning seven figures a year, according to Bloomberg. However, Basquiat struggled with drug use as he dealt with his newfound fame and wealth. After his sudden death of a heroin overdose at age 27 in 1988, the New York Times reported Basquiat’s friends said the late artist “resented being a black man whose fate twisted with the whims of an all-white jury of artistic powers.”
Further Reading
Rare Jean-Michel Basquiat Painting Sells For $40 Million At Auction (Forbes)
$42 Million Basquiat Becomes Most Expensive Western Artwork To Sell At Auction In Asia (Forbes)
