JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT: GENIUS OF THE STREETS AND THE ART MARKET

FROM SAMO TO THE MUSEUM

One of Basquiat’s most forceful statements about power and racial identity is La Hara (1981). A white, skeletal figure wearing a police cap stands against an aggressive red background. The title LA HARA is written repeatedly along the left side of the canvas. In New York Puerto Rican slang, the phrase means “police officer.” The expression has been linked to the Irish surname O’Hara, which was believed to be common among New York police officers in the 1940s and 1950s. Grey bars at the bottom of the painting heighten its resemblance to a prison cell.

In the same year, Basquiat appeared in Artforum, the American magazine devoted to contemporary art. From that point onward, his work began to be taken seriously by the established art world. In 1982, he participated in Documenta 7 in Kassel, one of the most important international art events, held once every five years.

Basquiat was also invited to the Whitney Biennial, which presents the work of influential and emerging American artists. He became one of the youngest participants in the event’s history. It was during this period that he painted one of his most celebrated works.

UNTITLED, 1982

The canvas presents a distorted skull with an open mouth and empty eye sockets. As a child, Basquiat had been fascinated by an anatomy book. The image alludes to death, street culture and African American identity. Rough lines, intense colours and restless brushwork give the painting an atmosphere of anxiety and expression. Layers of phrases and symbols emerge from the background, a device that appears throughout Basquiat’s work. The painting feels chaotic and structured at the same time—a combination characteristic of his art.

The work was purchased for $19,000 in 1984. Over the following decades, its value increased thousands of times. In 2017, it sold at Sotheby’s for a record $110.5 million.

Another vivid example of Basquiat’s Neo-Expressionist language is Warrior, also painted in 1982. It depicts a skeletal figure holding a raised sword and a dagger. The image reflects the artist’s inner fears and anxieties, conveying a sense of concealed threat and aggression. In 2021, it sold for $41.7 million, becoming the most expensive work of Western art sold at auction in Asia at the time.

In 1985, Basquiat appeared on the cover of The New York Times Magazine—an unusual distinction for any artist, and especially for an African American artist at that moment. He quickly became one of the central figures of Neo-Expressionism. He earned millions and was invited to exhibit in prestigious galleries around the world.

THE KING OF PLEASURE

Basquiat was part of the New York art scene and moved among musicians, artists and wealthy collectors. In 1982, he had a brief but intense relationship with Madonna, who had not yet become a global superstar.

His behaviour often ran against accepted norms, and he consciously cultivated the image of a rebel. He would stand up and leave in the middle of an interview, draw directly on tablecloths in expensive restaurants and spend enormous sums on impulsive purchases.

Basquiat sometimes arrived at formal events without shoes. He deliberately wore wrinkled, paint-stained clothes—although the clothes themselves could be expensive. He rejected bourgeois conventions and formal behaviour as part of his effort to remain “real.”

RIDING WITH DEATH

Andy Warhol played a decisive role in Basquiat’s career. They met in the early 1980s, when Basquiat was already becoming known. According to one version of the story, Basquiat took the initiative: after seeing Warhol in a restaurant, he approached him and offered several of his works. Warhol was impressed, and their acquaintance soon developed into a close collaboration.

They produced paintings together, combining Basquiat’s street-inflected language with the iconic imagery of Warhol’s Pop Art. The collaborations received a mixed response. Many critics believed that Basquiat remained in Warhol’s shadow, or that the older artist was using him for commercial purposes.

Over time, their relationship became strained. Basquiat began to distance himself from Warhol and sought to prove his independence. Their friendship never fully recovered. When Warhol died unexpectedly in 1987, Basquiat fell into a deep depression.

One of Basquiat’s final works was Riding with Death. Its central figure appears to have conquered death by climbing onto its back, yet the victory feels illusory. The outcome seems inevitable.

Basquiat felt increasingly lost, and the death of a close friend and mentor accelerated his path toward self-destruction. In 1988, one year after Warhol’s death, Basquiat died from an overdose in his studio. He was twenty-seven years old.