Jean-michel Basquiat Artwork valuations, appraisals and auction estimates

Jean-Michel Basquiat (New York, December 22, 1960 – New York, August 12, 1988) was an American writer and painter. He was one of the most important exponents of American graffiti art, managing to bring, together with Keith Haring, this movement from the metropolitan streets to art galleries. Read the full biography

Jean-michel Basquiat Biography

Jean-Michel Basquiat (New York, December 22, 1960 – New York, August 12, 1988) was an American writer and painter. He was one of the most important exponents of American graffiti art, managing to bring, together with Keith Haring, this movement from the metropolitan streets to art galleries. Jean-Michel Basquiat was born in Brooklyn, a borough of New York, on 22 December 1960 to a Haitian father originally from Port-au-Prince, the accountant Gérard Basquiat (b. 1930), and an American mother of Puerto Rican origins, Matilde Andrades ( 1934-2008); he had two younger sisters: Lisane (b. 1964) and Jeanine (b. 1967). The family lives in Park Slope. Basquiat began to show an interest in drawing when he was four years old, inspired by television cartoons. A love for art transmitted to him by his mother, who often accompanies him to the Brooklyn Museum, the Metropolitan Museum and the Museum of Modern Art in New York. In 1968 he was hit by a car and serious internal injuries forced doctors to remove his spleen. During the month of hospitalization at King's County, his mother gave him the anatomy text Gray's Anatomy by Henry Grey, which would influence him greatly: he would later include many anatomical elements in his works. Gray will also be the name of the musical group that Basquiat will found together with friends Vincent Gallo, Michael Holman, Wayne Clifford, Nick Taylor and Shannon Dowson. Already at the age of 11 he was able to speak, read and write in French and Spanish.