A Jean-Michel Basquiat painting from the artist’s distinctive series executed on canvases with visible stretcher bars—made during his peak year of 1982 and featuring hallmarks of his imagery including a crown, a wide-eyed face and cascades of text—will hit the auction block at Christie’s in New York next month with an on-request estimate of around $30m. The painting, The Italian Version of Popeye has no Pork in his Diet, comes from a private collection in New York and was last publicly displayed in Milan in 2006-07.
“This is Basquiat’s finest stretcher-bar painting,” Alex Rotter, Christie’s chairman of 20th- and 21st-century art, said in a statement. “This 1982 painting shows Basquiat at his absolute best—deftly mixing symbols, text and portraiture. The composition is frenzied and plentiful, drawing inspiration from so many of his iconic influences through history, sports and contemporary media. You could enjoy a lifetime untangling everything here.”
The 5ft-by-5ft painting will be offered during Christie’s evening auction of 21st-century art at its Rockefeller Center headquarters on 14 May.
Deep-pocketed Basquiat fans will have several opportunities to buy big works by the famous artist during next month’s spring sales in New York. Phillips has lined up two paintings: another trophy from 1982, the 8ft-wide Untitled (ELMAR), estimated to fetch between $40m and $60m; and the 1981 canvas Untitled (Portrait of a Famous Ballplayer), expected to bring in $6.5m to $8.5m. (Phillips will offer a third Basquiat later in May during a sale in Hong Kong.) Sotheby’s, meanwhile, will offer a large work from the series of collaborative canvases Basquiat made with Andy Warhol—the 13ft-wide Untitled (1984), which is expected to bring in around $18m.
The bevy of auction-bound Basquiats comes as the artist’s name and work remain ever-present in the art world and beyond. Gagosian currently has a major show of works the artist made in Los Angeles on view at its Beverly Hills space (until 1 June). Meanwhile, the aftermath of a 2022 Basquiat forgery scandal at the Orlando Museum of Art continues to play out in court. And a whole new audience may soon be enamoured of the late New York artist when a forthcoming documentary about him—co-produced by Taylor Swift’s boyfriend, American-football star Travis Kelce—is released.
