Art News. Vasari Codex

trending_up market schedule Jan 7, 2026 visibility 24 link 7 artists, 2 galleries

top lots jean michel basquiat

Artnet News examines the top five auction results for Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose meteoric rise and tragic death at age 27 fueled a legendary market. The list includes works such as "Versus Medici" (1982), which sold for $50.82 million at Sotheby's in 2021; "El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile)" (1983), which fetched $67.1 million at Christie's in 2023; and "Untitled" (1982), which reached $85 million at Phillips in 2022. The article highlights the artist's synthesis of graffiti and Renaissance aesthetics, his relationships with figures like Andy Warhol, and the explosive growth of his market over the past decade.

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trending_up market schedule Dec 18, 2025 visibility 17 link 8 artists, 1 gallery

work of the week basquiat onion gum

Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1983 painting *Onion Gum*, priced at $21.5 million, was one of the most expensive works for sale at the 23rd edition of Art Basel Miami Beach. The large square canvas, featuring a white head and handwritten text, has a long market history: it sold for $7.36 million at Sotheby's in 2012 to hedge fund manager Daniel Sundheim, then failed to meet its estimate at auction in 2016, fetching $6.6 million. Since 2017, Van de Weghe Gallery has used the work as collateral for bank loans, showing it at multiple Art Basel fairs with prices rising from $16.5 million in 2018 to the current $21.5 million.

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trending_up market schedule Nov 19, 2025 visibility 15 link 8 artists

basquiat crowns peso neto sothebys auction

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.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 9, 2025 visibility 15 link 5 artists

jean michel basquaits 45 m crowns peso neto to headline sothebys fall auctions in new york

Sotheby's will offer Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1981 painting *Crowns (Peso Neto)* as the headline lot of its contemporary evening sale in New York this fall, carrying a high estimate of $45 million. The work, which has never been auctioned before, debuted at Basquiat's landmark 1982 solo show at Annina Nosei Gallery and later appeared at Documenta 7. It will be exhibited in London during Frieze Week, then in Paris coinciding with Art Basel Paris, before arriving at Sotheby's new Breuer Building headquarters in New York ahead of the November 8 sale.

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trending_up market schedule Apr 23, 2025 visibility 13 link 7 artists, 1 gallery

basquiat christies baby boom

A 1982 Jean-Michel Basquiat painting, "Baby Boom," is returning to auction at Christie's 21st-century evening sale on May 14 in New York, with an estimate of $20 million to $30 million. The work, a triple portrait believed to depict the artist and his parents, has been in private hands for nearly 25 years and is being sold by major Basquiat collector Peter M. Brant. It was previously offered for $35 million in 2017 but did not sell.

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trending_up market schedule Apr 18, 2025 visibility 11 link 3 artists, 2 galleries

basquiat baby boom christies auction

Christie’s will auction Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 painting *Baby Boom* with an estimate of $20–$30 million during its May 14 sale of 21st-century art in New York. The work, which depicts three figures thought to be the artist and his parents, was first shown in a landmark 1982 exhibition at Fun Gallery and later appeared at Lévy Gorvy gallery in 2017 with a $30 million price tag. Its seller at that time was collector Peter Brant.

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museum exhibitions schedule Apr 20, 2026 visibility 20 link 3 artists, 5 galleries

Louisiana reunites Basquiat's 'Heads' for the first time

The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art in Denmark is hosting "Headstrong," the first museum exhibition in Scandinavia dedicated to Jean-Michel Basquiat. The show reunites 49 works on paper created between 1981 and 1984 that focus on the artist's depiction of the head—works Basquiat originally kept for himself and which were only discovered after his death. The exhibition includes the record-breaking 1982 "Untitled" painting, which previously sold for $110.5 million.

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trending_up market schedule Apr 18, 2025 visibility 14 link 4 artists, 1 gallery

Basquiat's family portrait painting could bring $30m at Christie's auction

Christie's will offer Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1982 painting *Baby Boom* as a highlight of its 21st century evening sale this May, with an estimate of $20–30 million. The work, a stylized family portrait believed to depict Basquiat with his parents, was first shown at his landmark Fun Gallery solo exhibition in 1982 and has been featured in major retrospectives at the Brooklyn Museum, Fondation Beyeler, and Fondation Louis Vuitton. Previously owned by collector Peter Brant—who bought it for $1 million in 2001—the painting was later offered at Levy Gorvy's Art Basel stand in 2017 for $30 million.

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trending_up market schedule May 2, 2026 visibility 26 link 3 artists, 1 gallery

Jean-Michel Basquiat | FAE Musée d'Art Contemporain (Sans titre) (Untitled) (1993) | For Sale

An extremely rare original 1993 exhibition poster for a posthumous Jean-Michel Basquiat solo show at FAE Musée d'Art Contemporain in Pully-Lausanne, Switzerland is being offered for sale by Graves International Art. The offset-lithograph poster, featuring Basquiat's untitled 1982 painting, was designed by Pierre Neumann and comes from a private collection in Hamburg, Germany. The listing notes that no other example of this poster has appeared on the secondary market or at auction before, and it is issued unsigned and posthumous.

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trending_up market schedule Oct 9, 2025 visibility 15 link 5 artists

$45 million Basquiat painting heads to auction for the first time.

Sotheby's will auction Jean-Michel Basquiat's painting *Crowns (Peso Neto)* (1981) in its contemporary evening sale in New York this November, with an estimate of $35–$45 million—the highest ever for a Basquiat work from 1981. The painting, making its auction debut, was featured in Basquiat's breakthrough solo show at Annina Nosei Gallery in 1982 and later exhibited at documenta 7 in 1983 and the artist's retrospective at Fondation Louis Vuitton in 2018. It will tour London and Paris before being presented at Sotheby's new New York headquarters in the historic Breuer building.

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