Basquiat, Jean-Michel
1960-1988 · Contribution: 1978-1988
Neo-expressionist painting and drawing; raw, gestural works mixing graffiti-style imagery, scrawled text, and symbols, referencing African American historical figures, anatomy, jazz, and street culture
Portraits are AI-generated interpretations, not photographs.
Impact on the world
Rose from the SAMO graffiti duo to international stardom in the 1980s Neo-expressionist movement; among the most influential and commercially valued American artists, credited with bringing the Black and Latino experience into the elite art world. His 1982 'Untitled' (skull) sold for a record $110.5 million in 2017.
Life & background
American painter born Dec 22, 1960 in Brooklyn, NY, to a Haitian father and Puerto Rican mother. Largely self-taught; collaborated with Andy Warhol in the mid-1980s. Died of a heroin overdose Aug 12, 1988, age 27.
Sources
- Encyclopædia Britannica; NMAAHC; The Art Story
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