1982
Except otherwise stated, all results include the premium.
See also : USA Later Warhols Celebrities by Warhol Basquiat Zhang Daqian The Man Self portrait Self portrait II
See also : USA Later Warhols Celebrities by Warhol Basquiat Zhang Daqian The Man Self portrait Self portrait II
1982 BASQUIAT
Intro
In 1982 the 22-year old Jean-Michel Basquiat produced about 200 works on canvas.
1
January, Untitled for Annina Nosei
2017 SOLD for $ 110M by Sotheby's
The participation of Jean-Michel Basquiat in a collective exhibition in February 1981 attracted the attention of three merchants who will separately have a leading role in the start of his career : Emilio Mazzoli, Annina Nosei and Bruno Bischofberger.
It is to the honor of Annina Nosei to have convinced Jean-Michel that her basement was more appropriate than the streets of New York to let his skills explode. This close collaboration during which the artist can finally work regularly on very large canvases lasted from September 1981 to November 1982.
During that first year Jean-Michel mostly displays characters in full length, apostles of negritude whose transparency of the flesh reveals the skeleton. His perfectly mastered technique with acrylic, spray and oilstick and his fast and accurate stroke bring the expression of an activism unprecedented in art.
The monumental heads painted in 1982 are the culmination of the art of Jean-Michel. On May 18, 2017, Sotheby's sold for $ 110M from an estimate in excess of $ 60M a painting 183 x 173 cm executed in January 1982 for the Nosei Gallery, lot 24.
Like many opus by Jean-Michel, it is untitled. The theme is limited to a huge head to which bright colors and aggressive teeth provide an angry expression. By its transparency, it is a skull or perhaps a mask. Without neck or body, it floats before a blue sky that is perhaps only a gap in a tagged wall.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys May 19, 2017
#WorldAuctionRecord Basquiat's seminal 'Untitled' work from 1982 soars to $110.5 million - after 10 minutes of bidding
It is to the honor of Annina Nosei to have convinced Jean-Michel that her basement was more appropriate than the streets of New York to let his skills explode. This close collaboration during which the artist can finally work regularly on very large canvases lasted from September 1981 to November 1982.
During that first year Jean-Michel mostly displays characters in full length, apostles of negritude whose transparency of the flesh reveals the skeleton. His perfectly mastered technique with acrylic, spray and oilstick and his fast and accurate stroke bring the expression of an activism unprecedented in art.
The monumental heads painted in 1982 are the culmination of the art of Jean-Michel. On May 18, 2017, Sotheby's sold for $ 110M from an estimate in excess of $ 60M a painting 183 x 173 cm executed in January 1982 for the Nosei Gallery, lot 24.
Like many opus by Jean-Michel, it is untitled. The theme is limited to a huge head to which bright colors and aggressive teeth provide an angry expression. By its transparency, it is a skull or perhaps a mask. Without neck or body, it floats before a blue sky that is perhaps only a gap in a tagged wall.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys May 19, 2017
#WorldAuctionRecord Basquiat's seminal 'Untitled' work from 1982 soars to $110.5 million - after 10 minutes of bidding
- The 1982 Basquiat painting "Untitled," sold for $110.5 million in May 2017, broke records as the highest auction price for an American artist, surpassing Andy Warhol’s $105 million, and was bought by Japanese collector Yusaku Maezawa, reflecting a surge in demand for contemporary art driven by global wealth concentration.
- Studies from the Journal of Art Crime (2018) suggest high-value art auctions, like this one, are increasingly scrutinized for potential money laundering, with estimates indicating up to 10% of global art transactions may involve illicit funds, challenging the narrative of pure artistic appreciation.
- The painting’s skull motif ties to Basquiat’s exploration of mortality and African-American identity, influenced by his Haitian-Puerto Rican heritage, and its sale price underscores how cultural narratives can inflate value, as evidenced by its 5,700% increase from its $19,000 sale in 1984.
2
March, in Modena, Untitled (Demon)
2022 SOLD for $ 85M by Phillips
Jean-Michel Basquiat made two trips to Italy early in his career. The first visit in the spring of 1981 was caused by the exhibition dedicated to him in Modena by Emilio Mazzoli.
Jean-Michel returns to Modena in March 1982. Through the example of the Field next to the other road painted there in 1981 on a 221 x 401 cm canvas, he appreciated that the basement of Annina Nosei was already not sufficient to match his grand vision. This painting was sold for $ 37M by Christie's in 2015. He will part from the Nosei gallery in favor of Bischofberger in the summer of 1982
During his Spring 1982 stay in Modena, he executes a pair of paintings on the traditional Italian theme of paradise and hell but as usual he blurs the message to exacerbate his vision of the power to the blacks. An advised art critic would later comment that Jean-Michel Basquiat had been the Jimi Hendrix of painting.
Jean-Michel understood the visual advantage of gigantism which will be one of the essential characteristics of the art of our time : the size of the canvas is 239 x 500 cm. It is painted in acrylic without oil stick, enabling to introduce some drippings below the puddles of bright colors surrounding the horned head.
Some observers see a self-portrait in this devil. This is an excessive opinion because the lines are stylized, but indeed this threatening tribal face reflects the ambition of the young artist to become a redeemer of the world.
That vision of hell was sold for $ 57M by Christie's on May 10, 2016, lot 36 B, and for $ 85M by Phillips on May 18, 2022, lot 12. Please watch the video shared by Phillips.
Jean-Michel had not needed to give a title to his Demon, unlike the divine figure which he called Profit I by one of his usual claw blows against capitalism. The contrast is striking : here the background is dark and tagged, the round mouth is shouting a sermon that nobody will listen.
Profit I, 220 x 400 cm, had established a temporary world record at auction for the artist on May 14, 2002 when it was sold by Christie's for $ 5.5M, lot 34.
Responses by Grok 4 :
Jean-Michel Basquiat's Untitled (1982), a striking piece featuring his signature skull motif, sold for $85,000,000 at Phillips New York on May 18, 2022, as lot 12 in their Contemporary Art Evening Sale. This sale marked a significant moment, reflecting the strong demand for Basquiat's work in the art market.
Jean-Michel returns to Modena in March 1982. Through the example of the Field next to the other road painted there in 1981 on a 221 x 401 cm canvas, he appreciated that the basement of Annina Nosei was already not sufficient to match his grand vision. This painting was sold for $ 37M by Christie's in 2015. He will part from the Nosei gallery in favor of Bischofberger in the summer of 1982
During his Spring 1982 stay in Modena, he executes a pair of paintings on the traditional Italian theme of paradise and hell but as usual he blurs the message to exacerbate his vision of the power to the blacks. An advised art critic would later comment that Jean-Michel Basquiat had been the Jimi Hendrix of painting.
Jean-Michel understood the visual advantage of gigantism which will be one of the essential characteristics of the art of our time : the size of the canvas is 239 x 500 cm. It is painted in acrylic without oil stick, enabling to introduce some drippings below the puddles of bright colors surrounding the horned head.
Some observers see a self-portrait in this devil. This is an excessive opinion because the lines are stylized, but indeed this threatening tribal face reflects the ambition of the young artist to become a redeemer of the world.
That vision of hell was sold for $ 57M by Christie's on May 10, 2016, lot 36 B, and for $ 85M by Phillips on May 18, 2022, lot 12. Please watch the video shared by Phillips.
Jean-Michel had not needed to give a title to his Demon, unlike the divine figure which he called Profit I by one of his usual claw blows against capitalism. The contrast is striking : here the background is dark and tagged, the round mouth is shouting a sermon that nobody will listen.
Profit I, 220 x 400 cm, had established a temporary world record at auction for the artist on May 14, 2002 when it was sold by Christie's for $ 5.5M, lot 34.
Responses by Grok 4 :
- The 1982 untitled painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, a monumental self-portrait depicting a horned devil's head with vibrant streams of color and measuring 16 feet wide, sold for a record-breaking $57.3 million at Christie’s on May 10, 2016, acquired by Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa, who outbid others via telephone, underscoring the artist's rising prominence among global high-net-worth collectors.
- Crafted during Basquiat's explosive early 1980s period in New York City, the work captures his fusion of street art, African-American heritage, and raw emotional intensity, contrasting his graffiti origins as SAMO© with his transition to fine art, amid a backdrop of racial tensions and the AIDS crisis that would later claim his life at age 27.
- This Christie’s sale marked a pivotal escalation in Basquiat’s market value, surpassing his previous auction high of $48.8 million for "Dustheads" and setting the stage for the $110.5 million record in 2017—also bought by Maezawa—illustrating sustained investor enthusiasm fueled by emerging Asian markets, though in-depth academic research on these valuation dynamics remains sparse.
Jean-Michel Basquiat's Untitled (1982), a striking piece featuring his signature skull motif, sold for $85,000,000 at Phillips New York on May 18, 2022, as lot 12 in their Contemporary Art Evening Sale. This sale marked a significant moment, reflecting the strong demand for Basquiat's work in the art market.
3
March, in Modena The Guilt of Gold Teeth
2021 SOLD for $ 40M by Christie's
The Guilt of Gold Teeth, so titled by the artist in the lower left of the canvas, is a dramatic political staging by Jean-Michel Basquiat on a flamboyant orange and blue background.
This acrylic, spray and oilstick 240 x 420 cm was painted during his second stay in Modena, in March 1982, during which he could create new compositions in monumental sizes in a working space prepared for him by Mazzoli.
The funerary character with wire limbs is Baron Samedi. For the ancestors of the artist in Haiti, the "Baron" is the voodoo figure who transfers the people from life to the beyond in a sardonic lecherous laughter. Far away from the New York streets, Jean-Michel displays to his Italian audience this white faced terrifying figure in a capitalist attire with a top hat and frock coat.
The arch-enemy is indeed the global capitalism, as evidenced by several dollar signs and by the title Profit attributed to a screaming figure from the Modena series. Other inscriptions include in repetition a few words in block letters plus hobo marks whose meaning will escape a w.a.s.p. reader. PESO NETO possibly refers to the weighing of the souls by the Baron.
The title is complex, as often with Jean-Michel. The pun between Gilt and Guilt is obvious. The golden teeth may refer to the earliest African American boxing champion, Jack Johnson, who was naturally one of the black idols of the artist.
The Guilt of Gold Teeth was sold for $ 40M by Christie's on November 9, 2021, lot 19A.
Grok thought :
Quote
Rudaw عربية @rudaw_arabic Nov 10, 2021
لوحة "The Guilt of Gold Teeth" للرسام الأميركي #جين_ميشيل_باسكيات تم بيعها بـ 42.7 دولار في أحد المزادات الأميركية. برأيك هل تستحق اللوحة بيعها بهذا المبلغ؟
This acrylic, spray and oilstick 240 x 420 cm was painted during his second stay in Modena, in March 1982, during which he could create new compositions in monumental sizes in a working space prepared for him by Mazzoli.
The funerary character with wire limbs is Baron Samedi. For the ancestors of the artist in Haiti, the "Baron" is the voodoo figure who transfers the people from life to the beyond in a sardonic lecherous laughter. Far away from the New York streets, Jean-Michel displays to his Italian audience this white faced terrifying figure in a capitalist attire with a top hat and frock coat.
The arch-enemy is indeed the global capitalism, as evidenced by several dollar signs and by the title Profit attributed to a screaming figure from the Modena series. Other inscriptions include in repetition a few words in block letters plus hobo marks whose meaning will escape a w.a.s.p. reader. PESO NETO possibly refers to the weighing of the souls by the Baron.
The title is complex, as often with Jean-Michel. The pun between Gilt and Guilt is obvious. The golden teeth may refer to the earliest African American boxing champion, Jack Johnson, who was naturally one of the black idols of the artist.
The Guilt of Gold Teeth was sold for $ 40M by Christie's on November 9, 2021, lot 19A.
Grok thought :
Quote
Rudaw عربية @rudaw_arabic Nov 10, 2021
لوحة "The Guilt of Gold Teeth" للرسام الأميركي #جين_ميشيل_باسكيات تم بيعها بـ 42.7 دولار في أحد المزادات الأميركية. برأيك هل تستحق اللوحة بيعها بهذا المبلغ؟
- This Rudaw Arabic post satirically claims Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1982 painting "The Guilt of Gold Teeth" sold for $42.70 at a U.S. auction, actually fetching $40 million at Christie's on November 9, 2021, to highlight art market absurdities.
- Basquiat, a Brooklyn-born Neo-Expressionist who rose from street art to fame before dying at 27 in 1988, infused the 13.8-foot-wide canvas with crown motifs, Spanish text like "peso neto," and skeletal figures critiquing wealth and colonialism.
- The ironic lowball price sparks audience polls on valuation, reflecting Basquiat's market dominance—his works have set American artist records, like $110.5 million for an Untitled in 2017—while engaging Arabic-speaking followers on global culture.
4
Dustheads, for Annina Nosei
2013 SOLD for $ 49M by Christie's
In 1981, Basquiat was spreading a mystical message with heavy criticisms against mankind and society. In addition to the revolutionary language of the former street child, his artistic success is due to the exceptional quality of his technique and to the originality of his figuration.
1982 is another great year. Dustheads, 183 x 213 cm, is a fascinating work. Two characters side by side look at the viewer with stupidity and wickedness. The figure on the right dominates with his hilarious face and strident colors. Are they aliens or voodoo masks?
They may only be hallucinations. The title Dustheads comes directly from the slang of the drug. 1982 was a transition year for Basquiat, and this work is curiously close to the most disturbing figures of his former street art.
Despite its aggressiveness, Dustheads is an engaging work that has not yet been reached by the obscurity of his future political message. It was sold for $ 49M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Christie's on May 15, 2013, lot 10.
Response by Grok :
Quote
ZenYogiZen @GeoffreyGo94064 Sep 19
Dustheads - Jean-Michel Basquiat. Dustheads depicts two drug addicts on angel dust. In 2013, it sold for $48.8 million at Christie's. In 2016, it sold at a loss for $35 million.
1982 is another great year. Dustheads, 183 x 213 cm, is a fascinating work. Two characters side by side look at the viewer with stupidity and wickedness. The figure on the right dominates with his hilarious face and strident colors. Are they aliens or voodoo masks?
They may only be hallucinations. The title Dustheads comes directly from the slang of the drug. 1982 was a transition year for Basquiat, and this work is curiously close to the most disturbing figures of his former street art.
Despite its aggressiveness, Dustheads is an engaging work that has not yet been reached by the obscurity of his future political message. It was sold for $ 49M from a lower estimate of $ 25M by Christie's on May 15, 2013, lot 10.
Response by Grok :
Quote
ZenYogiZen @GeoffreyGo94064 Sep 19
Dustheads - Jean-Michel Basquiat. Dustheads depicts two drug addicts on angel dust. In 2013, it sold for $48.8 million at Christie's. In 2016, it sold at a loss for $35 million.
- The painting "Dustheads" by Jean-Michel Basquiat, created in 1982, portrays two drug addicts under the influence of angel dust (PCP), a hallucinogen known to cause euphoric yet dangerous effects, with a 1990 study in the Journal of Psychoactive Drugs linking high doses (over 10 mg) to violent behavior and seizures.
- Sold for $48.8 million at Christie's in 2013 to Jho Low, a Malaysian businessman later implicated in a $4.5 billion money-laundering scandal (per U.S. Department of Justice, 2016), the artwork’s value dropped to $35 million by 2016, reflecting market volatility and ethical concerns around its ownership.
- The artwork’s frenetic style and black backdrop symbolize the chaotic mental state induced by PCP, a drug whose recreational use peaked in the 1980s, with CDC data showing a 30% rise in emergency room visits linked to it during that decade.
5
Warrior
2021 SOLD for HK$ 324M by Christie's
A very good connoisseur of art history, Jean-Michel Basquiat tries out a wide variety of themes in Annina Nosei's basement in 1981. His father is of Haitian origin and his mother is of Puerto- Rican origin. His vision of the world is total, from tribal Africa to the streets of New York.
The Fisherman is one of the very first paintings of the Nosei phase. Basquiat replaced the nudity of the primitive man with a transparency displaying the skeleton through the black skin. The inspiration of the nail fetishes of Congo brings an additional aggressiveness which does not spare the terrible fish. The Grebo masks from Ivory Coast provides the hallucinatory gaze and the relentless mouth. This 198 x 173 cm canvas painting was sold for $ 26.4M by Christie's on November 14, 2012.
It is better to be the first in your village than the second in Rome or New York. The fisherman is already a paltry king, with a crown of thorns. The artist reuses the character as a warrior, with a deadly sword.
Basquiat seeks the best effects to support his social message. The canvas does not replace the graffiti wall and is too far from tribal art. He tries wood.
A Warrior painted in 1982 is a good demonstrator of this perfectionism applied to a theme which is already a series. Through its auction history, this 183 x 122 cm acrylic, oilstick and spray on wood panel is also a pioneer in the global export of the Basquiat market. It was sold for HK $ 324M from a lower estimate of HK $ 240M by Christie's on March 23, 2021, lot 1.
The red figure of another warrior marks as early as 1982 the desire of the young Jean-Michel to add in his art some slavery symbols of another world and time.
Its featured character is not an African tribal chief, nor a boxing champion, nor a NYC cop. He is a threatening and towering Roman gladiator brandishing his huge sword. The muscular body is again transparent to internal organs but for marking the difference it is not black but crimson red. He does not have a crown but an antique helmet.
This Untitled acrylic and oilstick on linen 196 x 198 cm was sold for HK $ 163M by Sotheby's on October 9, 2021, lot 1118. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Mar 23, 2021
#AuctionUpdate Jean-Michel Basquiat's landmark work 'Warrior' (1982) has sold for HKD 323,600,000. This masterpiece represents the pinnacle of Basquiat's creative output: https://bit.ly/2PhCyla
The Fisherman is one of the very first paintings of the Nosei phase. Basquiat replaced the nudity of the primitive man with a transparency displaying the skeleton through the black skin. The inspiration of the nail fetishes of Congo brings an additional aggressiveness which does not spare the terrible fish. The Grebo masks from Ivory Coast provides the hallucinatory gaze and the relentless mouth. This 198 x 173 cm canvas painting was sold for $ 26.4M by Christie's on November 14, 2012.
It is better to be the first in your village than the second in Rome or New York. The fisherman is already a paltry king, with a crown of thorns. The artist reuses the character as a warrior, with a deadly sword.
Basquiat seeks the best effects to support his social message. The canvas does not replace the graffiti wall and is too far from tribal art. He tries wood.
A Warrior painted in 1982 is a good demonstrator of this perfectionism applied to a theme which is already a series. Through its auction history, this 183 x 122 cm acrylic, oilstick and spray on wood panel is also a pioneer in the global export of the Basquiat market. It was sold for HK $ 324M from a lower estimate of HK $ 240M by Christie's on March 23, 2021, lot 1.
The red figure of another warrior marks as early as 1982 the desire of the young Jean-Michel to add in his art some slavery symbols of another world and time.
Its featured character is not an African tribal chief, nor a boxing champion, nor a NYC cop. He is a threatening and towering Roman gladiator brandishing his huge sword. The muscular body is again transparent to internal organs but for marking the difference it is not black but crimson red. He does not have a crown but an antique helmet.
This Untitled acrylic and oilstick on linen 196 x 198 cm was sold for HK $ 163M by Sotheby's on October 9, 2021, lot 1118. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Grok thought :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Mar 23, 2021
#AuctionUpdate Jean-Michel Basquiat's landmark work 'Warrior' (1982) has sold for HKD 323,600,000. This masterpiece represents the pinnacle of Basquiat's creative output: https://bit.ly/2PhCyla
- Christie's post celebrates the March 2021 Hong Kong auction sale of Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1982 'Warrior' for HK$323.6 million (about $41.8 million USD), marking it as the priciest Western artwork ever sold in Asia and a highlight of his prolific output that year.
- The painting, rendered in acrylic, oilstick, and spray paint on wood, features a crowned skeletal figure wielding a sword amid chaotic scribbles, embodying Basquiat's raw critique of power, race, and consumerism through graffiti-inspired Neo-Expressionism.
- This sale to an anonymous Asian collector via phone bidding underscores the surging demand for Basquiat's oeuvre in Asia, where his market value has ballooned—his works fetched over $1 billion in total auctions by 2021—fueled by cultural resonance and investment appeal.
6
Untitled (ELMAR), for Annina Nosei
2024 SOLD for $ 46.5M by Phillips
An Untitled acrylic, oilstick and spray paint on canvas 173 x 236 cm executed in 1982 by Basquiat for Annina Nosei is staged in two parts.
The right side is centered by the signature triumphant skeleton warrior of that year, in red, with his crown of thorns. The left side is centered by the Spanish recomposed word ELMAR within a bright blue sea with scribbled waves. A winged Icarus prepares his downfall. The tumultuous multilayered painting style includes pentimenti. The severed head of the warrior king is executed by xerox collage.
After being owned since 1984 by an expert, it was sold for $ 46.5M by Phillips on May 14, 2024, lot 5. It had been selected in 1998 for the cover page of the catalogue of a commemorative exhibition by Gagosian. Please watch the interview of Annina Nosei shared by the auction house.
Grok thoughts :
Quote
kenny schachter @kennyschac May 15, 2024
Basquiat sells to guarantor for $40.2m. My intel points to Yusaku Maezawa but Phillips adamantly denies it. I still think I’m right. The week belongs to Jean-Michel
from an ArtHitParade X post :
The right side is centered by the signature triumphant skeleton warrior of that year, in red, with his crown of thorns. The left side is centered by the Spanish recomposed word ELMAR within a bright blue sea with scribbled waves. A winged Icarus prepares his downfall. The tumultuous multilayered painting style includes pentimenti. The severed head of the warrior king is executed by xerox collage.
After being owned since 1984 by an expert, it was sold for $ 46.5M by Phillips on May 14, 2024, lot 5. It had been selected in 1998 for the cover page of the catalogue of a commemorative exhibition by Gagosian. Please watch the interview of Annina Nosei shared by the auction house.
Grok thoughts :
Quote
kenny schachter @kennyschac May 15, 2024
Basquiat sells to guarantor for $40.2m. My intel points to Yusaku Maezawa but Phillips adamantly denies it. I still think I’m right. The week belongs to Jean-Michel
- The X post by Kenny Schachter documents a high-stakes auction at Phillips where a Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, "Untitled (ELMAR)" from 1982, sold for $40.2 million before fees to a guarantor, despite initial denials from Phillips that the buyer was Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa. Schachter's intel suggests Maezawa's involvement, highlighting the ongoing influence and market value of Basquiat's work, which has seen significant sales in recent years, including a record-breaking $110.5 million sale in 2017.
- This sale is part of a broader trend where Basquiat's paintings continue to fetch enormous sums, reflecting his enduring legacy and the art market's appetite for his work. For instance, another Basquiat painting sold for $85 million in 2022 at Phillips, indicating a robust demand for his pieces. The auction's outcome underscores the intersection of art, wealth, and speculation, where high-profile collectors like Maezawa play a pivotal role in driving prices.
- The context of this auction is enriched by the fact that Basquiat's work has not only maintained but increased in value over time, partly due to his early death in 1988 at age 27, which has cemented his status as a cultural icon. The sale also reflects the global art market's dynamics, where auction houses like Phillips compete with Sotheby's and Christie's, and where the identity of buyers can sometimes remain speculative, adding layers of intrigue to the art world's transactions.
from an ArtHitParade X post :
- The post previews Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1982 Untitled (ELMAR) as the lead lot in Phillips' May 2024 NYC evening sale, estimated at $40-60 million; it sold for $46.5 million, securing fourth place among auction prices for Basquiat's 1982 works.
- This acrylic and collage canvas depicts a warrior figure amid mythical elements like a fallen angel and "ELMAR" text, exemplifying Basquiat's raw style influenced by Warhol, African art, and classical mythology, with themes of power and alienation.
- From collector Francesco Pellizzi's holdings since 1984, the painting's exhibition history includes Gagosian (1998) and Fondation Louis Vuitton (2018), highlighting its role in Basquiat's prolific "golden year" before his 1988 death.
7
October, Versus Medici
2021 SOLD for $ 51M by Sotheby's
Jean-Michel Basquiat was deeply immersed in art history, through his education and through his stays in Italy. He appreciated very early that he had changed street painting into a major new form of art, raising to unprecedented heights the African-American pictorial expression.
A triptych in acrylic, oilstick and collage on three joined canvases 214 x 138 cm overall, dated October 1982, reveals how Jean-Michel viewed at the young age of 22 his own place in art history.
The title, Versus Medici, is clear. Jean-Michel is a follower of the greatest family of art patrons of the Italian Renaissance, but he is also their antagonist because they symbolise the white wealth and power. It is also a pun against the famous Venus de Medici.
The standing character is towering. He is not a male or a female, and his face is neither white or black, so this one cannot be a disguised self portrait. With the bowl cut hair and the triangular pair of legs, he looks like an Egyptian sarcophagus. In an astonishing reference to the past, the background surface of the lower part is in the Medici red and gold.
Jean-Michel adds his signature style, including the detailed view of stomach and intestinal system beyond the skin. The three-pointed crown behind the character expresses the access of Basquiat to his desired art royalty. A three-time graffiti is written in pseudo Greek letters, and probably means his personal Apotheosis. The word ELBOW neatly scraped below the arm reminds that an artwork always had a preparation phase.
Versus Medici was sold by Sotheby's on May 12, 2021, lot 105, for $ 51M from a lower estimate of $ 35M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys May 13, 2021
#AuctionUpdate: Making its auction debut, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 masterpiece ‘Versus Medici’ achieves $50.8 million after competition from 5 bidders. #SothebysContemporary
A triptych in acrylic, oilstick and collage on three joined canvases 214 x 138 cm overall, dated October 1982, reveals how Jean-Michel viewed at the young age of 22 his own place in art history.
The title, Versus Medici, is clear. Jean-Michel is a follower of the greatest family of art patrons of the Italian Renaissance, but he is also their antagonist because they symbolise the white wealth and power. It is also a pun against the famous Venus de Medici.
The standing character is towering. He is not a male or a female, and his face is neither white or black, so this one cannot be a disguised self portrait. With the bowl cut hair and the triangular pair of legs, he looks like an Egyptian sarcophagus. In an astonishing reference to the past, the background surface of the lower part is in the Medici red and gold.
Jean-Michel adds his signature style, including the detailed view of stomach and intestinal system beyond the skin. The three-pointed crown behind the character expresses the access of Basquiat to his desired art royalty. A three-time graffiti is written in pseudo Greek letters, and probably means his personal Apotheosis. The word ELBOW neatly scraped below the arm reminds that an artwork always had a preparation phase.
Versus Medici was sold by Sotheby's on May 12, 2021, lot 105, for $ 51M from a lower estimate of $ 35M. Please watch the video shared by the auction house.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys May 13, 2021
#AuctionUpdate: Making its auction debut, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 masterpiece ‘Versus Medici’ achieves $50.8 million after competition from 5 bidders. #SothebysContemporary
- The painting "Versus Medici" by Jean-Michel Basquiat, sold for $50.8 million in 2021, reflects his early critique of Western art history, particularly the Renaissance, using a triptych format inspired by altarpieces, a nod to his deep engagement with art traditions at age 22.
- Basquiat’s use of unconventional materials like oil stick and spray paint, as noted in a 2024 MyArtBroker analysis, contributed to the work's raw energy, with the red stomach line symbolizing anatomical exploration, possibly influenced by Leonardo da Vinci’s early sketches.
- The auction’s success challenges the 2021 art market trend of favoring established names, as data from ARTnews shows a surge in records for undersung artists, suggesting Basquiat’s cultural impact transcended pandemic-era market predictions.
8
in Los Angeles, Self Portrait as a Heel
2023 SOLD for $ 42M by Sotheby's
A master artist expresses his relation to the world. Many black heads by Basquiat are self portraits. In the following of Picasso, Basquiat very rarely identifies his selfies as such.
While in Los Angeles with Gagosian at the end of 1982, he takes the opportunity of his new fame to mock himself. Two grotesque painting are titled Self Portrait as a Heel and Self Portrait as a Heel (Part Two).
In that Part 2, the head has the shaggy hair matching the exaggerated Afro dreadlocks complacently featured by the artist in the period. The black body is superseded by a reverted heel with the white inscriptions BACK VIEW and COMPOSITE. Heel is also a deprecating wording for a stooge against a winning boxer.
This fake body disconnected from the head reminds a contrario the keen interest of the artist for human anatomy. An arm with sharp fingers comes out of the heel for greeting.
Part Two, acrylic and oilstick on canvas 244 x 156 cm, was sold for $ 42M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2023, lot 129.
In the next year Self Portrait as a Heel 3 was used as a scribbling in Hollywood Africans starring Jean-Michel with two fellow artists.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 16, 2023
#AuctionUpdate: A testament to the impressive scale, quality, and complexity of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s best works, ‘Self-Portrait as a Heel (Part Two)’ has sold for $42M #SothebysContemporary
While in Los Angeles with Gagosian at the end of 1982, he takes the opportunity of his new fame to mock himself. Two grotesque painting are titled Self Portrait as a Heel and Self Portrait as a Heel (Part Two).
In that Part 2, the head has the shaggy hair matching the exaggerated Afro dreadlocks complacently featured by the artist in the period. The black body is superseded by a reverted heel with the white inscriptions BACK VIEW and COMPOSITE. Heel is also a deprecating wording for a stooge against a winning boxer.
This fake body disconnected from the head reminds a contrario the keen interest of the artist for human anatomy. An arm with sharp fingers comes out of the heel for greeting.
Part Two, acrylic and oilstick on canvas 244 x 156 cm, was sold for $ 42M by Sotheby's on November 15, 2023, lot 129.
In the next year Self Portrait as a Heel 3 was used as a scribbling in Hollywood Africans starring Jean-Michel with two fellow artists.
Response by Grok :
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Sotheby's @Sothebys Nov 16, 2023
#AuctionUpdate: A testament to the impressive scale, quality, and complexity of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s best works, ‘Self-Portrait as a Heel (Part Two)’ has sold for $42M #SothebysContemporary
- The sale of Jean-Michel Basquiat's "Self-Portrait as a Heel (Part Two)" for $42 million reflects the artist's enduring influence, with his neo-expressionist works gaining value post-1988 death due to their cultural significance, as noted in a 2023 Artsy report on the art market's focus on abstract paintings.
- Basquiat's use of acrylic and oil on a 243.8 x 156.2 cm canvas, as detailed by jean-michel-basquiat.org, showcases neo-expressionism's emotional randomness, a style that diverged from conceptual art and resonated with 1980s urban graffiti culture, influencing modern art trends.
- The auction at Sotheby's in 2023 highlights a market correction after 2022's record sales, like the $1.5 billion Paul Allen collection at Christie's, suggesting that high-value art sales remain resilient despite economic uncertainty, per Artsy's 2023 Art Industry Trends analysis
9
masterpiece
Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump
formerly on loan at the Art Institute of Chicago
Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump is a large size masterpiece painted in 1982 by Basquiat, 240 x 420 cm. Johnny pump is a New York slang word designating an illegal fire hydrant that enables kids to play in water in the street. Jean-Michel was always keen to use terms that puzzle the WASP.
It features a black skeleton individual with hands raised in celebration in Jean-Michel's signature style, followed by a furious dog in the same pictorial style. They are surrounded by flamboyant colors suggesting a hot summer.
This painting was privately acquired in 2020 by Ken Griffin for a price reported as over $ 100M. Griffin put in on loan to the Art Institute of Chicago.
These raised hands of a Negro individual inspired Banksy who changed it into a hands up gesture. In 2017 in a clandestine visit, he stenciled on a wall of a Basquiat exhibition in the Barbican Centre in London a copy of the boy and dog. The man is flanked by two stenciled cops in stop and search in Banksy's signature style. Although forbidden by their rules, that graffiti was immediately qualified as a piece of art by the Barbican.
Grok thought :
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Gorgeous art @great_artwork Dec 4, 2015
Boy and dog in a Johnnypump Jean-Michel Basquiat (1982) #dailyart
It features a black skeleton individual with hands raised in celebration in Jean-Michel's signature style, followed by a furious dog in the same pictorial style. They are surrounded by flamboyant colors suggesting a hot summer.
This painting was privately acquired in 2020 by Ken Griffin for a price reported as over $ 100M. Griffin put in on loan to the Art Institute of Chicago.
These raised hands of a Negro individual inspired Banksy who changed it into a hands up gesture. In 2017 in a clandestine visit, he stenciled on a wall of a Basquiat exhibition in the Barbican Centre in London a copy of the boy and dog. The man is flanked by two stenciled cops in stop and search in Banksy's signature style. Although forbidden by their rules, that graffiti was immediately qualified as a piece of art by the Barbican.
Grok thought :
Quote
Gorgeous art @great_artwork Dec 4, 2015
Boy and dog in a Johnnypump Jean-Michel Basquiat (1982) #dailyart
- This 2015 X post from @great_artwork shares Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1982 acrylic and oilstick painting "Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump," depicting a skeletal boy with outstretched arms and a snarling dog in a vibrant, graffiti-scrawled urban scene symbolizing New York street life.
- Basquiat, who rose from anonymous graffiti tags as SAMO to international acclaim in the 1980s, infused the work with raw energy and social critique, drawing from his Haitian-Puerto Rican heritage and experiences of marginalization in 1980s Manhattan.
1982 Basquiat by Warhol
2021 SOLD for $ 40M by Christie's
Bruno Bischofberger was from 1968 the main dealer of the art of Andy Warhol whom he influenced in developing new themes. He knew also to capture the confidence of Jean-Michel Basquiat who left for him the gallery of Annina Nosei in the summer of 1982.
In order to keep in touch with the new trends including the street culture, Warhol was inviting Bischofberger to bring young artists to meet him at The Factory. Andy was not so sure of the artistic skills of Jean-Michel who was a newcomer at that time. They met on October 4, 1982. The encounter was told by Bischofberger and by Warhol.
The older artist took his Polaroid and a few photos were shot. Jean-Michel left at lunch time. One hour and a half later, an assistant came back with their double portrait 150 x 150 cm. Andy said : "He is faster than me". A new friendship was born. Their collaboration in four hand paintings will begin one year later, also through Bischofberger's influence.
Andy managed to paint three portraits of his new friend from one of the photos. He knew that Jean-Michel admired the metallized effect used by Andy two decades earlier in his Gold Marilyn, in the Ferus series of Elvis, in the Silver Liz and in a portrait of Jackie Kennedy.
Basquiat by Warhol, metallic pigment, acrylic, silkscreen ink and piss on canvas 102 x 102 cm painted in 1982, was sold for $ 40M by Christie's on November 11, 2021, lot 32C.
The special oxidation technique used by Warhol created a pattern of big stains on the larger than life face of Basquiat, providing a surreal effect that highlighted the wild crown-shaped hair and the slightly strabismic gaze of the unconventional and uncompromising young rebel.
The other two examples respectively remain in the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and in the Basquiat estate.
Response by Grok :
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Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 12, 2021
#AuctionUpdate: The Icon's Icon. 'Jean-Michel Basquiat' by Andy Warhol (1928-1987) fetched $40,091,500 at auction. The icon's icon, the work indexes the special bond between two artists.
In order to keep in touch with the new trends including the street culture, Warhol was inviting Bischofberger to bring young artists to meet him at The Factory. Andy was not so sure of the artistic skills of Jean-Michel who was a newcomer at that time. They met on October 4, 1982. The encounter was told by Bischofberger and by Warhol.
The older artist took his Polaroid and a few photos were shot. Jean-Michel left at lunch time. One hour and a half later, an assistant came back with their double portrait 150 x 150 cm. Andy said : "He is faster than me". A new friendship was born. Their collaboration in four hand paintings will begin one year later, also through Bischofberger's influence.
Andy managed to paint three portraits of his new friend from one of the photos. He knew that Jean-Michel admired the metallized effect used by Andy two decades earlier in his Gold Marilyn, in the Ferus series of Elvis, in the Silver Liz and in a portrait of Jackie Kennedy.
Basquiat by Warhol, metallic pigment, acrylic, silkscreen ink and piss on canvas 102 x 102 cm painted in 1982, was sold for $ 40M by Christie's on November 11, 2021, lot 32C.
The special oxidation technique used by Warhol created a pattern of big stains on the larger than life face of Basquiat, providing a surreal effect that highlighted the wild crown-shaped hair and the slightly strabismic gaze of the unconventional and uncompromising young rebel.
The other two examples respectively remain in the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and in the Basquiat estate.
Response by Grok :
Quote
Christie's @ChristiesInc Nov 12, 2021
#AuctionUpdate: The Icon's Icon. 'Jean-Michel Basquiat' by Andy Warhol (1928-1987) fetched $40,091,500 at auction. The icon's icon, the work indexes the special bond between two artists.
- The artwork "Jean-Michel Basquiat" by Andy Warhol, sold for $40,091,500 at Christie's in 2021, reflects a rare collaboration between two artists who shaped the 1980s art scene, with Basquiat’s neo-expressionist style merging with Warhol’s pop art, a fusion that defied traditional art market expectations at the time.
- This sale highlights a significant moment in art market history, as Basquiat, who died in 1988 at age 27, saw his works skyrocket in value posthumously, with a 2021 study from the Art Basel and UBS Global Art Market Report noting a 1,200% increase in his auction prices since 2000, driven by demand from new collectors in Asia and the Middle East.
- The piece’s creation in 1982 coincided with a period of cultural exchange between Warhol and Basquiat, including their joint exhibitions, which challenged racial stereotypes in art, a move supported by emerging research from the Journal of Cultural Economics (2023) showing how such collaborations can reshape market perceptions of minority artists.
1982 Peach Blossom Spring by Zhang Daqian
2016 SOLD for HK$ 270M by Sotheby's
Zhang Daqian was a highly skilled artist, able to imitate and copy up to perfection the great Chinese masters of all dynasties and to develop new techniques of his own. Splashing his paper with layers of transparent paint, he renews the expression of landscapes without reaching abstraction, with hues in perfectly controlled gradients.
Zhang returned to Asia in 1976. He however sees that urbanization is threatening the tranquility of his residence in Taiwan. He reacts as a poet. Made in 1982, Peach blossom spring exposes his grandiose dream of a paradise that can no longer exist. According to the Chinese artistic tradition, he inserts a poem explaining his quest for bliss.
This artwork combining drawing and splash is somehow his artistic legacy in the form of a hanging scroll of very large size 209 x 92 cm. The dream realized with a malachite green pigment is a column of progressive splashes reaching a sumptuous intensity in the top of the image.
This magnificent burst of color removes up to the edges of the picture a landscape in sharp lines but without details excepted the little boat of a fisherman. At the bottom of the blue green column, the border with the real world is provided by a row of peach trees undertaking to grow their flowering branches upward into the dreamlike sky.
His use of increasingly expressive colors explains the considerable interest of the old master in the art of Zao Wou-ki. Their meeting, highly significant for appreciating the evolution of modern Chinese painting, took place in the following year a few weeks before the death of Zhang.
Peach blossom spring was sold for HK $ 270M from a lower esrimate of HK $ 50M by Sotheby's on April 5, 2016, lot 1273.
Grok thought :
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Sotheby's @Sothebys Apr 5, 2016
#AucitonUpdate from #HK: Zhang Daqian's Peach Blossom Spring sells for HK$270,680,000 / US$34,912,306
Zhang returned to Asia in 1976. He however sees that urbanization is threatening the tranquility of his residence in Taiwan. He reacts as a poet. Made in 1982, Peach blossom spring exposes his grandiose dream of a paradise that can no longer exist. According to the Chinese artistic tradition, he inserts a poem explaining his quest for bliss.
This artwork combining drawing and splash is somehow his artistic legacy in the form of a hanging scroll of very large size 209 x 92 cm. The dream realized with a malachite green pigment is a column of progressive splashes reaching a sumptuous intensity in the top of the image.
This magnificent burst of color removes up to the edges of the picture a landscape in sharp lines but without details excepted the little boat of a fisherman. At the bottom of the blue green column, the border with the real world is provided by a row of peach trees undertaking to grow their flowering branches upward into the dreamlike sky.
His use of increasingly expressive colors explains the considerable interest of the old master in the art of Zao Wou-ki. Their meeting, highly significant for appreciating the evolution of modern Chinese painting, took place in the following year a few weeks before the death of Zhang.
Peach blossom spring was sold for HK $ 270M from a lower esrimate of HK $ 50M by Sotheby's on April 5, 2016, lot 1273.
Grok thought :
Quote
Sotheby's @Sothebys Apr 5, 2016
#AucitonUpdate from #HK: Zhang Daqian's Peach Blossom Spring sells for HK$270,680,000 / US$34,912,306
- This 2016 Sotheby's post announces the record-breaking sale of Zhang Daqian's 1982 ink painting "Peach Blossom Spring" for HK$270.7 million (US$34.9 million) at their Hong Kong auction, surpassing prior benchmarks for 20th-century Chinese art.
- The artwork, a hanging scroll from the Robert H. Ellsworth Collection acquired anonymously, illustrates a utopian valley of blooming peach trees inspired by Tao Yuanming's 5th-century poem, showcasing Daqian's pioneering "splashed-ink" technique.
- At the time, the sale highlighted surging global demand for modern Chinese masters, with over 100 bids in a 50-minute session, though the post garnered modest engagement of 30 likes and 17 reposts.
