“The only thing the market liked better than a hot young artist was a dead hot young artist, and it got one in Jean-Michel Basquiat,” the art critic Robert Hughes once said.
Almost 25 years on from the artist’s death, the obsession with his work continues to grow, as for the second year running his work sold for more money at auction than any other contemporary artist.
Basquiat was a pop icon who started as a graffiti artist and died from a heroin overdose at just 27. By that stage, he had become one of the most celebrated artists of his generation, with his reputation only burnished by his close relationship with Andy Warhol.
The latest Artprice report found that the American artist’s work had sold at auction for a total of €79.9m between July 2011 and June this year, more than double his nearest rival contemporary, Chinese artist Fanzhi Zeng.
Martin Bremond, head economist at Artprice, said: “Jean-Michel Basquiat is now far beyond being a mere major contemporary artist. He is now, like Andy Warhol, a mythical figure in 20 century art.”
Basquiat ran away from home at the age of 15, sleeping rough for a week. After he dropped out of school, his father kicked him out of home, and he lived with friends making money by selling t-shirts and postcards.
His graffiti got him noticed and by 1981 he had become known as an artist. These days he remains a popular cultural cornerstone, collected by stars including Leonardo DiCaprio and Madonna, and referenced by rappers including Jay-Z and Kanye West.
To mark his popularity, this year one of his works, Untitled from 1981, broke records for the artist, selling for €14.3m at Christie’s in London.
“Basquiat’s artistic reputation is more or less equal to that of Warhol, but he is more affordable,” Mr Bremond said. “In the current climate of economic uncertainty his work is therefore considered a safe haven…
Read more: Nick Clark, The Independent
