Bruno Bischofberger, Swiss Art Dealer and Early Backer of Basquiat, Dies at 86

Bruno Bischofberger, the influential Swiss art dealer, collector, and historian, died on Saturday at age 86. He opened his first galleries in Zurich and St. Moritz in 1963, championed American Pop artists like Andy Warhol and Roy Lichtenstein, and became an early backer of Jean-Michel Basquiat, representing him from 1982. Bischofberger also helped found Interview magazine with Peter Brant and was a longtime exhibitor at Art Basel.

The Most Expensive Jean-Michel Basquiat Works Ever Sold at Auction

ARTnews published a listicle ranking the most expensive Jean-Michel Basquiat works ever sold at auction, updated as of May 15, 2026. The article traces Basquiat's rise from street artist under the moniker SAMO to a major figure in the downtown New York scene, highlighting key relationships with Keith Haring, Diego Cortez, and curator Henry Geldzahler. It notes that Basquiat's entire mature output was created between 1981 and 1984, and that his 1983 painting *Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown)* sold at Sotheby's in May 2026 for $52.7 million, placing it among his top sales. The piece also details earlier top sales, including *Untitled* (1982) for $29.3 million at Christie's in 2013 and *Flesh and Spirit* (1982–83) for $30.7 million at Sotheby's in 2018.

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Lady Pink, a pioneering graffiti artist, is creating the inaugural mural commission for MoMA PS1 in Queens, New York. The mural, set to be unveiled on June 26, 2025, features a surreal composition of a stone foot, a subway platform, and the Brooklyn skyline, paying homage to the lost 5Pointz graffiti site. Lady Pink, who began tagging subway cars in 1979 and was included in MoMA PS1's 1981 'New York/New Wave' exhibition, is working on-site with assistants, using both brushes and spray paint.

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An early Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, *Crowns (Peso Neto)* (1981), sold for $48.3 million at Sotheby’s contemporary evening sale on Tuesday night, exceeding its pre-sale estimate of $35–45 million. The work, making its auction debut, was created when Basquiat was 21 and features his signature motifs of crowns, black faces, and cartographic lines. Bidding lasted five minutes, with Sotheby’s chairman for China Jen Hua winning on behalf of a phone client. The painting had been held in three private collections over four decades and was previously exhibited at Basquiat’s first solo show at Annina Nosei, documenta 7, the Whitney Museum, and the Fondation Louis Vuitton.

Basquiat's intense works on paper are at the center of his first exhibition in Denmark

Le intense opere su carta di Basquiat sono al centro della sua prima mostra in Danimarca

The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk, Denmark, is hosting "Headstrong," a retrospective of 50 works on paper by Jean-Michel Basquiat, running until May 17. The exhibition focuses on Basquiat's depictions of the human head and body, created between 1981 and 1983, and first shown posthumously in 1990. It is the first solo museum presentation of Basquiat in Scandinavia, featuring loans from private collections and international museums, highlighting a lesser-known aspect of the artist's practice.

Miss Subway NYC is a landmark solo exhibition by trailblazing artist Lady Pink.

D'Stassi Art has opened "Miss Subway NYC," a landmark solo exhibition by trailblazing graffiti artist Lady Pink in Shoreditch, London. The show features a full-scale recreation of a graffiti-covered NYC subway station, displaying original works, new commissions, archival pieces, sketches, and ephemera from her early career. Lady Pink, one of the first women to break into New York's graffiti scene, began tagging trains at 17 and exhibited at MoMA PS1's landmark 1981 show "New York/New Wave" alongside Jean-Michel Basquiat and Keith Haring. The exhibition's title references the historic Miss Subways beauty pageant, and includes a self-portrait of Lady Pink as Miss Subways 2025.

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Crowns (Peso Neto)To Star in Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale

Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1981 painting *Crowns (Peso Neto)* will headline Sotheby's Contemporary Evening Sale this November, carrying an estimate of $35–45 million—the highest ever for a Basquiat work from that year. The painting, never before offered at auction, debuted at Annina Nosei Gallery in 1982 and was later shown at documenta 7. It will be publicly exhibited in London, Paris, and New York before the sale, which coincides with the opening of Sotheby's new global headquarters in the former Whitney Museum's Breuer Building.

Sotheby’s to sell painting from Jean-Michel Basquiat’s first solo show

Sotheby's will offer Jean-Michel Basquiat's early painting *Crowns (Peso Neto)* (1981) as the top lot in its Contemporary Evening Sale on 18 November, held at the auction house's new headquarters in the Breuer Building. The work, estimated at $35–40 million, was created in the basement of dealer Annina Nosei's gallery and featured in Basquiat's first solo show in 1982, marking a pivotal moment in his rise from street artist to market star. It comes from a European private collection and has never been auctioned before.