Basquiat

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Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 – August 12, 1988) was an American artist and is cited by Graham Thompson as the first painter of African descent to become an international art star. He started as a graffiti writer in New York City, and in the 1980s produced Neo-expressionist painting. Basquiat died of a heroin overdose on August 12, 1988.


The art of Jean-Michel Basquiat possesses the same intensity and energy that marked his brief life. In the space of only eight years he had succeeded in creating an extensive oeuvre and introducing new figurative and expressive elements into contemporary art.
On the occasion of his fiftieth birthday, the Fondation Beyeler is devoting the first large exhibition ever held in Europe to this outstanding American draftsman and painter. Comprising over 100 works, it traces Basquiat’s unique artistic development and reflects his place in art history. Conceived as a retrospective, the exhibition also enables a rediscovery and re-evaluation of one of the most fascinating personalities in the history of recent art.






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