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.
This auction underscores Basquiat’s enduring dominance in the contemporary art market, where his works consistently command eight- and nine-figure sums. *Baby Boom* comes from his most coveted year—1982—the same year as his record-setting $110.5 million untitled painting. A sale near the high estimate would place it among the most expensive Basquiat works ever publicly auctioned, reinforcing his status as a blue-chip artist and signaling continued strength in the high-end auction sector.