Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Untitled (1982) sold for $22.95 million at Christie’s 21st century evening sale on November 21st, setting a new auction record for a work on paper by the artist. The record-breaking lot led the sale, which totaled $106.5 million. It was a white glove sale: All 42 lots on offer were sold. Last year’s sale garnered $107.5 million, also with 42 lots. All prices include fees.
Created when Basquiat was just 21, Untitled features a figure crowned with a laurel wreath. The drawing, measuring over five feet tall, was featured in Basquiat’s major retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in 2019. This work was chosen to represent the artist’s body of work in the New York Times’s obituary for the artist in 1988. The work’s price fell within its estimate of $20 million–$30 million.
Elsewhere, records were set or broken for 10 other artists, including William Eggleston, Hilary Pecis, Denzil Forrester, Roni Horn, Ana Mendieta, and Sarah Sze. Among these other record-setting sales, Artsy Vanguard 2022 alum Sasha Gordon’s Gone Fishing (2019) sold for $214,200, doubling its high estimate. Earlier this year, the 26-year-old painter became the youngest artist to join David Zwirner.
Dominican artist Firelei Báez’s Josephine Judas GOAT (it does not disturb me to accept that there are places where my identity is obscure to me, and the fact that it amazes you does not mean I relinquish it) (2017) was another standout sale, fetching $567,000, surpassing her previous auction record by $453,000. Her previous auction record was set by Mistaking Passion for Fever (June 11) (2014) at Sotheby’s online auction in October 2024, where it sold for $114,000.
It was also a good night for Basquiat’s contemporaries: Keith Haring’s Untitled (Hollywood African Mask) (1987) set a new auction record for sculpture by the artist, fetching $3.19 million. This work is one of only eight masks made by the artist, featuring his signature graffiti-like designs. Meanwhile, Louise Bourgeois’s Les Fleurs (2009), a 12-part red gouache polyptych, set a record for a work on paper for the artist. The work sold for $2.59 million, well above its $1.5 million estimate.
Following Basquiat’s Untitled, the top lots of the night were:
- David Hockney’s Four Empty Vases (1996) sold for $8.57 million.
- Jeff Koons’s Large Vase of Flowers (1991) sold for $8.23 million.
- Yayoi Kusama’s Pumpkin (2022) sold for $6.82 million.
- Cecily Brown’s The Butcher and the Policeman (2013) sold for $5.97 million.
- Koons’s New Hoover Celebrity IV, New Hoover Convertible, New Shelton 5 Gallon Wet/Dry, New Shelton 10 Gallon Wet/Dry Doubledecker (1981–86) sold for $5.13 million.
