Jean-Michel Basquiat, “Untitled,”1982,
Untitled was executed by Jean-Michel Basquiat in Modena, Italy in 1982, at just 21 years old, which is considered his most valuable year. That year he also became the youngest artist ever invited to participate in ‘Documenta’ in Kassel, Germany.
Basquiat had initially been invited to Modena in 1981 by art dealer Emilio Mazzoli, for his first one-man show at Galleria d'Arte Emilio Mazzoli, after he had seen Basquiat's work at the New York/New Wave February 1981 show at New York's MoMa PS1.
He returned to Modena in March 1982, and during this trip he created a series of paintings; Untitled being the largest at over sixteen feet wide and almost eight feet tall.
The artwork has often been identified as a self-portrait depicting Basquiat as a devil. It is dominated by sporadic brushwork and an array of vivid colors overlapping a fiery black devil at its center.
The painting was a part of the collection art dealers Adam Lindemann and his wife Amalia Dayan (Sotheby’s contemporary art evening sale in London in June 2004).
It was sold to Japanese businessman and art collector Yusaku Maezawa at ‘Christie's post-war and contemporary art evening auction’ in May 2016.
The painting will be sold again by Phillips during the ‘New York Evening Sale of 20th Century & Contemporary Art’ in May.
Acrylic on canvas,
240 cm × 500 cm (94 in × 197 in)
