A defining figure of late 20th century art, Jean-Michel Basquiat transformed the visual language of contemporary painting through a raw, expressive fusion of street culture, symbolism, and art-historical reference.
Emerging from New York’s downtown scene in the late 1970s, Basquiat first gained attention for his graffiti under the pseudonym SAMO, before rapidly establishing himself as one of the most original voices of the 1980s.
His paintings, layered with text, anatomy, and rhythmic mark-making, capture the energy of urban life while confronting themes of race, identity, power, and the commodification of art. Drawing upon sources as varied as jazz, poetry, and Renaissance painting, Basquiat created a visual vocabulary that was at once deeply personal and universally resonant.
By the age of twenty, he had exhibited internationally, and his collaborations with artists such as Andy Warhol underscored his position at the intersection of art, celebrity, and popular culture. Though his life was tragically short, Basquiat’s influence continues: his work continues to shape dialogues around representation, authorship, and the politics of image-making in the contemporary era.
