Neo-Expressionist star who rose from street graffiti
An American painter who leapt from New York street graffiti to become a supernova of the 1980s art world. His paintings are raw and wild, mixing words, symbols, skulls, and crowns, facing race, identity, power, and death head-on. As a Black artist, he brought the history and anger of Black people into a gallery world dominated by whites. He died young at twenty-seven of drug use, yet in a few short years reshaped the face of contemporary art, his works now setting record auction prices.
A three-pointed crown recurs in Basquiat’s paintings, often set above Black athletes and musicians — in an art history that rarely made Black people its protagonists, he insisted on crowning his own people. A young man come from the street used spray paint and brush to win back dignity for the overlooked.
Below are how modern works borrow or reinterpret this name or story — not the original material. The two differ, so keep them apart.