Jean-Michel Basquiat Death: How Much Are Basquiat Paintings Worth?

American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat was born on December 22, 1960, in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, United States. His father, a native of Haiti, worked as an accountant. The second of four kids, Basquiat. His older brother Max passed away not long before Basquiat was born. He also had Lisane and Jeanine, two younger sisters. He gained notoriety in the 1980s for being a key figure in the neo-expressionist movement.

His father was a financial advisor. Even though he taught himself to read and write as a child, he did not perform as well in school as he would have liked. He left school and attended an alternative education program where he studied art. He started selling T-shirts to cover his expenditures after dropping out of school and being made to leave his home by his father. Relationship between Jean-Michel Basquiat and Suzanne Mallouk in the years before his death

After a while, he teamed up with a friend to establish “SAMO,” a crew who painted graffiti on New York buildings. He gained attention for his graffiti painting. He was hired by a T-shirt manufacturer thanks to his efforts as well. Even better, he had a band of his own that played at specific nightclubs. Despite his many talents, it was his work as a painter that helped him become well-known in the 1980s. The tremendous desire for new expressionist art eventually led to a large number of buyers for his work.

What Caused Basquiat’s Death?

Basquiat, who was of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent, passed away in 1988 at the age of just 27 due to an accidental drug overdose. However, before his death, he created a collection of approximately 600 paintings and 1,500 drawings that continue to excite and inspire the public imagination as well as young artists.

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How much was Basquiat worth at the time of his death?

Neo-expressionism, an aesthetic movement, propelled Jean-Michel Basquiat to the fore of notoriety as a painter in the 1980s. Jean-Michel Basquiat was earning several million dollars annually at the height of his career. Jean-Michel Basquiat had a total net worth of $10 million at the time of his death, which included the market value of his artwork.

Becoming an Artist

Basquiat was driven to earn a living and establish a name for himself as an artist by the need of having to rely exclusively on his own intelligence and resources. The young man supported himself by soliciting donations and selling items such as T-shirts and postcards. During this period, however, he also started to gain notice as a graffiti artist. This attention was mostly focused on his work.

Basquiat and his friend Al Diaz painted graffiti on buildings in Manhattan that featured anti-establishment sentiments. They did it under the name SAMO, which is an abbreviation for the phrase “Same Old Sh*t.” After a short period of time, the pair gained the attention of the alternative press, which resulted in an increased awareness of the artistic social commentary being produced by them.

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Basquiat and Diaz eventually fell out of favor with one another and parted ways. Their final graffiti message, which read “SAMO is dead,” was discovered scrawled on the walls of a great number of buildings in New York. Keith Haring, a fellow street artist turned media phenomenon, hosted a funeral service for SAMO in his club 57 shortly after the artist’s passing.

Artistic Success and Racial Awareness

By 1980, Basquiat had established himself as a respected artist in his field. In that same year, he took part in his first group exhibition, which was called “The Times Square Show.” His breakthrough came in the form of a second group show held in 1981 at the PS1/Institute for Art and Urban Resources Inc., which was a non-profit organization. Basquiat’s work was selected as the highlight of the show, which caused Artforum magazine to publish an article about him titled “The Radiant Child.” The display featured the work of more than 20 different artists. In addition, he appeared in the movie “Downtown 81,” in which he played a semi-autobiographical part.

(The film was not made available to the public until the year 2000, despite having been shot in 1980 and 1981.) Basquiat’s message centered on societal duality, and it was influenced not just by punk and hip hop, but also by artists such as Pablo Picasso, Cy Twombly, Leonardo da Vinci, and Robert Rauschenberg, as well as his own Caribbean history. In his works, he showed both the Egyptian trade in enslaved people and the transatlantic commerce in enslaved people.

He made a reference to the radio and television show “Amos ‘n’ Andy,” which was set in Harlem and was notorious for perpetuating negative stereotypes about people of African descent. He went on to discuss the internal conflicts and the implications of what it meant to be an African American police officer in the United States. “Basquiat lamented the fact that as a Black man, despite his success, he was unable to flag a cab in Manhattan,” Alastair Sooke, an art critic for the Daily Telegraph, wrote in an article that was published by BBC News. “And he was never shy of commenting explicitly and aggressively upon racial injustice in the United States,” Sooke added.

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By the middle of the 1980s, Basquiat began working closely with the renowned artist Andy Warhol on various art exhibitions. In 1986, he made history by becoming the youngest artist ever to have work displayed in Germany’s Kestner-Gesellschaft Gallery, which featured over sixty of his paintings. But the artist also had his critics, such as art critic Hilton Kramer, who called Basquiat’s career “one of the scams of the 1980s art boom.” Kramer also called the marketing of the artist “absolute baloney.” Basquiat’s supporters, on the other hand, defended his work and lauded his achievements.

How Much Are Basquiat Paintings Worth?

The classic large-scale painting Untitled, 1982, by Jean-Michel Basquiat, sold for $85 million on Wednesday evening at Phillips in New York. The painting came from the possession of Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa and was placed for sale. A collector from Taiwan put the winning bid over the phone, which came to US$75 million before costs were deducted.

Frequently Asked Question

Was Basquiat Married?

It was the place where Jean-Michel Basquiat developed into an avant-garde street artist and painter, quickly winning acclaim throughout the world. He lived with his lover and muse, Suzanne Mallouk, for the years before his passing at the age of 27.

Who Owns the Basquiat Estate?

The late artist’s father, Gerard Basquiat, managed the Estate until his passing in 2013. Lisane Basquiat and Jeanine Heriveaux, the late artist’s sisters, are currently in charge of running it.

What is the Most a Painting Has Ever Sold for?

The highest known prices for paintings are shown on this list. The most recent record purchase of Salvator Mundi by Leonardo da Vinci was made in November 2017 for roughly US$450.3 million (commission included).