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.
This sale matters because it highlights the enduring demand for Basquiat's early work, particularly from his breakthrough year of 1981, and tests the market at a time when top-tier contemporary art continues to command nine-figure estimates. The painting's debut at auction also underscores Sotheby's strategic move to anchor its new Breuer Building location with a trophy lot that carries both art-historical significance and blockbuster provenance, having been last seen publicly at the Fondation Louis Vuitton retrospective in 2018.