Jean-Michel Basquiat's works that feature skulls and anatomical drawings, famously inspired by the copy of Gray's Anatomy his mother gave to him, are the most prized amongst collectors. With such an experimental, ever-changing style in such a short period (sadly, the artist passed away at the age of 27 in 1988), there is so much for Basquiat collectors to discover.
In The Art of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Fred Hoffman explains how just a year after his death, Herbert and Lenore Schorr offered the Museum of Modern Art in New York a Basquiat painting from their collection as a gift, to which "the museum replied that having a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat was not even worth the cost of the storage."
See also: Jean-Michel Basquiat: 7 Facts to Know
However, today Basquiat's painting are among the most expensive in the world. With a May 2023 sale of $67 million for Basquiat's El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile), the Basquiat boom continues. Works from the early 1980s are the most desired on the market, with Basquiat's most expensive works all from these years. These years marked Basquiat's explosive transition from being a graffiti artist to a fine artist. Here are his top five priciest works ever sold:
5. Versus Medici, 1982
In the early 1980s, Basquiat had two exhibits in Modena, Italy, where he became inspired by the greats of the Renaissance, such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. According to his studio assistant Stephen Torton, he was fascinated by the Dominican friar Girolamo Savonarola, who overthrew the Medici dynasty in 1494, and that may be where the subject of this painting comes from. The work is a challenge to the Western canon of art in its title and was painted during Basquiat's coveted year of 1982. It sold at Sotheby's for $50.8 million in May 2021.
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4. El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile), 1983
The most recent addition to this list comes after El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile) sold for $67.1 million at Christie's 21st Century Evening Sale in New York in May 2023. Basquiat executed the work in 1983 in acrylic and oil stick on three canvases that were mounted on supporting frames. The painting is the central work among Basquiat's history paintings, in which he addresses the Black diaspora. Because of its significance, the complex work, which Basquiat completed at just 23 years old, has had an extensive exhibition history and has been part of major retrospectives such as the Whitney Museum of American Art in 1992 and the Brooklyn Museum of Art in 2006.
See also: The 10 Most Expensive Paintings Auctioned in 2023
3. Untitled (Devil), 1982
In 2016, Japanese collector and e-commerce entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa purchased this epic canvas by Basquiat at Christie's for $57.3 million. Measuring more than sixteen feet wide and nearly eight feet tall, it is also one of the artist's largest canvases. Made when Basquiat was just twenty-two, the central figure is a demon, created using impulsive brushwork and rich colour. The dramatic figure dominates the canvas in Basquiat's homage to his change in career from street artist to the studio and is said to be a heroic self-portrait with Basquiat depicting himself as a devil rising amidst an explosion of expressive gestures. The viewer is hypnotised, trapped by the devil's spellbinding stare. This is the largest in a series of paintings which Basquiat undertook during two periods he spent in Modena, Italy, in the spring of 1981 and 1982. Maezawa offered it again at auction in May 2022, where it sold for $85 million at Phillips.
See also: 14 Black Artists Who Changed Art History
2. In This Case, 1983
In This Case was the last in Basquiat's trilogy of large skull works from 1981-83, which echoes his fascination with human anatomy from childhood. One of these is in The Broad museum in LA and the other is the most expensive Basquiat painting (Untitled, 1982). In This Case was in the collection of Valentino co-founder Giancarlo Giammetti, who bought it from Gagosian in 2007. The acrylic and oil stick on canvas achieved $93.1 million at Christie's in May 2021, almost doubling it $50 million estimate.
1. Untitled, 1982
In 2017, the auction record for a work by Basquiat was smashed at Sotheby's Contemporary Art evening auction in New York when Untitled (1982) sold for $110.5 million, a record that is still maintained. The intensely outlined skull set against a cerulean blue background is the second most expensive auctioned work by an American artist.
See also: The 12 Most Expensive Paintings Ever Auctioned
The piece had been virtually unseen since it last appeared on the market in May of 1984, when it sold for $19,000. This work earned Basquiat his place as an artist whose work has sold for over $100 million at auction amongst Pablo Picasso, Amedeo Modigliani, Francis Bacon, Edvard Munch, Andy Warhol and Alberto Giacometti.
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This is an updated version of an article originally published on 24 May 2022.
