Collaboration between Basquiat and Warhol to be sold in New York

Before the auction, the painting, which promises to arouse serious interest among collectors, will be shown in Hong Kong

A famous work by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Andy Warhol, painted in 1984, will be put up for auction at Sotheby’s in New York in May. The painting was featured at the Paris exhibition held last year in Paris, and will be shown in Hong Kong in April. In 2010, the painting was sold at the same Sotheby’s for $2.65 million. Now she will sell for at least 18 million, experts are sure. But, perhaps, it is also more expensive for many.

Over the past few years, prices for works by Jean-Michel Basquiat have skyrocketed. This happened against the backdrop of several large-scale blockbuster projects, where the work of the street artist was shown in volume. Although in fact, it is difficult to say what has accumulated the increase in prices for the artist’s work – records and exhibitions. So, in 2017, the work “Untitled” from 1982 (that is, written exactly in the year Basquiat and Warhol met) was acquired in a bitter battle at auction by the Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maesawa. The picture went for $110.5 million and broke the record of his mentor Andy, whose most expensive work, “Silver Car Crash,” cost $105.5 million in 2013.

In 2018, an exhibition of Jean-Michel Basquiat took place at the Brooklyn Museum. And last year, the Basquiat x Warhol project was shown at the Louis Vuitton Foundation in Paris. Painting in four hands”, where more than 80 paintings signed by both artists were exhibited. The curators at the opening said that among the exhibits there are “absolute masterpieces,” and the top lot of the upcoming May auction is among them. Basquiat and Warhol met in 1982, and from 1983 to 1986 they collaborated, creating about 160 works. Warhol died in 1987, and Basquiat died in 1988. He was 27 years old. For both artists, both for the venerable and already very famous king of pop art Warhol, and for the young rebel Basquiat, this collaboration became a special period and a bright point in their creative careers.

The appearance of each of the artists’ joint works on the art market becomes a sensation. It is not surprising that Sotheby’s announced the sale of an untitled painting, known from a recent Paris exhibition, more than a month in advance and decided to take it to Hong Kong at the end of April. One must assume that the auctioneers will be able to fetch much more than the announced $18 million for it.