We particularly recommend visiting The Broad in Los Angeles and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City, which feature iconic works like “Hollywood Africans, 1983” and “Horn Players, 1983”, respectively.

Before visiting, make sure you check out the museum’s website to see if the artwork you want to see is on view (sometimes these artworks get rotated or lent to other museums for exhibitions or events).

The Broad

Location: Los Angeles, United States

Price: $19 USD

Notable Piece(s): “Horn Players, 1983”, “Wicker, 1984”, “With Strings Two, 1983”

Website: https://www.thebroad.org/art/jean-michel-basquiat

Whitney Museum of American Art

Location: New York City, United States

Price: $30 USD

Notable Piece(s): “Hollywood Africans, 1983”, “LNAPRK, 1982”

Website: https://whitney.org/artists/69

MACBA

Location: Barcelona, Spain

Price: €12 EUR

Notable Piece(s): “Self Portrait, 1986”, “Sterno, 1986”

Website: https://www.macba.cat/en/actor/jean-michel-basquiat/

Museum of Modern Art

Location: New York City, United States

Price: $30 USD

Notable Piece: “Untitled, 1983”

Website: https://www.moma.org/artists/370-jean-michel-basquiat

MOCA

Location: Los Angeles, United States

Price: $16 USD

Notable Piece(s): “Six Crimee, 1982”, “Untitled, 1984”

Website: https://www.moca.org/artist/jean-michel-basquiat

Rubell Museum

Location: Miami, United States

Price: $15 USD

Notable Piece: “Bird On Money, 1981”

Website: https://rubellmuseum.org/thath-jean-michel-basquiat

Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen

Location: Rotterdam, Netherlands

Price: €20 EUR

Notable Piece(s): “Untitled, 1982”, “King of Egypt II, 1982”

Website: https://www.boijmans.nl/en/collection/artists/2178/jean-michel-basquiat

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Location: Washington, D.C., United States

Price: Free

Notable Piece: “Untitled, 1982”

Website: https://americanart.si.edu/artist/jean-michel-basquiat-30695

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Location: New York City, United States

Price: $30 USD

Notable Piece: “Jughead, 1987”

Website: https://engage.metmuseum.org/admission

Museum Brandhorst

Location: Munich, Germany

Price: €7 EUR

Notable Piece: “Untitled, 1983”

Website: https://www.museum-brandhorst.de/en/factory/artists/jean-michel-basquiat

Basquiat

Basquiat by Leonhard Emmerling is a great introductory book to Jean-Michel Basquiat. Part of TASCHEN’s Basic Art Series, the book presents a chronological overview of Basquiat’s iconic life and career. You will learn about his artistic influence through both cultural and historical lenses. There are also approximately 100 artworks shown throughout the book, accompanied by extensive captions.

Basquiat: Boom for Real

Basquiat: Boom for Real by Eleanor Nairne was released in 2020, accompanied by an exhibition at the Barbican Art Gallery. The book examines Jean-Michel Basquiat’s career through a wider art historical context.

It comprises six chapters, including essays from poet Christian Campbell on SAMO©; curator Carlo McCormick on New York / New Wave; writer Glenn O’Brien on the downtown scene; academic Jordana Moore Saggese on Basquiat’s relationship to film and television; and music scholar Francesco Martinelli on Basquiat’s obsession with jazz. It also features rare archival materials and photography. 

Jean-Michel Basquiat. (40th Edition)

Jean-Michel Basquiat. (40th Edition) published by TASCHEN is one of the most popular books of the symbolic New York artist. First published in a massive XXL edition, this new edition comes in a much more compact size and affordable price, celebrating TASCHEN’s 40th anniversary.

Each chapter chronologically examines Jean-Michel Basquiat’s career through his seminal paintings, drawings, sketches, and words. It also provides concise insights into Basquiat’s background, art themes, and artistic development.

The Notebooks (The Sketchbooks, 1)

The Notebooks, edited by Larry Warsh, offers a rare and intimate glimpse into the fascinating mind and thought processes of Jean-Michel Basquiat.

From 1980 to 1987, Basquiat created multiple working notebooks documenting his inspirations and interests. For the first time, this facsimile edition recreates iconic pages from eight of these notebooks. It is filled with “behind the scenes” sketches and texts, demonstrating Basquiat’s obsession with music, art, comics, and politics.

Warhol on Basquiat: The Iconic Relationship Told in Andy Warhol’s Words and Pictures

As you can tell by the title, Warhol on Basquiat focuses on the complex yet intriguing relationship between Jean-Michel Basquiat and legendary artist Andy Warhol.

Produced by The Andy Warhol Foundation and Jean-Michel Basquiat’s estate, the book documents the duo’s relationship through hundreds of previously unpublished photographs, with occasional appearances from iconic figures like Madonna and Keith Haring. It also showcases ample collaborative artwork from the artists and rare diary entries from Andy Warhol.

The Jean-Michel Basquiat Reader

The Jean-Michel Basquiat Reader by scholar Jordana Moore Saggese is one of the most thorough sourcebooks about the artist. The book presents a comprehensive picture of Basquiat’s artwork, ideologies, and influences.

It uses a broad spectrum of sources, including his interviews, previously unpublished research, critical essays, and criticisms. It is the perfect book for those who want to dive deep into contemporary art, American art, and art history.

Basquiat-isms

Basquiat-isms is a small but critical publication of Jean-Michel Basquiat, edited by Larry Warsh. Unlike most of the books on this list, Basquiat-isms focuses heavily on text rather than illustrations. The book presents a collection of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s most important quotes, curated from his interviews and artwork. It offers a unique insight into how Basquiat views the world and other abstract subjects.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, quoted in Basquiat-isms-

I cross out words so you will see them more; the fact that they are obscured makes you want to read them.

Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure

Jean-Michel Basquiat: King Pleasure is primarily written by Basquiat’s family, notably Lisane Basquiat, Jeanine Heriveaux, and Nora Fitzpatrick, her two sisters and stepmother. It presents the distinct story of Jean-Michel Basquiat through the intimate perspective of his family.

The book discusses multiple notable periods in Basquiat’s life, accompanied by comprehensive interviews with his family members. It offers a first-hand view of Basquiat’s relationship with his family and friends. You will also find a rare and largely unseen collection of artwork from the Jean-Michel Basquiat Estate.

Basquiat: The Modena Paintings

Unlike the previous publications, Basquiat: The Modena Paintings by Iris Hasler focuses on a collection of eight paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat made in the summer of 1982, when he traveled to Modena, Italy, for one of his first solo exhibitions in Europe at the gallery of Emilio Mazzoli.

Painted within a few days, these large-scale paintings are now widely considered as some of Basquiat’s most prominent and pivotal works. The book dives deep into these paintings as they were reunited for the first time in an exhibition earlier this year.

Executed in 1983, Horn Players by Jean-Michel Basquiat pays homage to legendary jazz musicians Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. Much like graffiti and primitivism, jazz music was a major source of inspiration for Basquiat.

When he was young, his father played a lot of jazz and classical music in the house, which developed his passion for music. Besides, jazz, he was also heavily into other genres such as No Wave and Hip Hop. For those unfamiliar with No Wave, it is an avant-garde music genre that originated in New York during the mid-to-late 70s. It mixes different non-rock genres, such as jazz, funk, and blues.

As a matter of fact, Basquiat actually has his own No Wave band, Gray, which was named after his favorite book Gray's Anatomy. He was also involved in the hip-hop scene through his collaboration with Rammelzee and K-Rob in 1983, producing the song "Beat Bop”. However, jazz is what inspired Basquait the most.

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Jean-Michel Basquiat and Pablo Picasso are two iconic and distinctive figures from vastly different backgrounds. Basquiat was part of the Neo-expressionism movement, while Picasso was heavily involved in cubism. However, they are actually much more connected than you might have expected. In this article, we will dive into how Picasso and primitivism played a vital role in shaping Basquiat’s aesthetics. 

Jean-Michel Basquiat was exposed to art at a very young age. Since the age of just five, Basquiat and his mother would visit different museums around New York City. This introduced him to a diverse group of artists such as Pablo Picasso, Franz Kline, Claude Monet, and Jackson Pollock. Among all the artwork he encountered, Picasso’s “Guernica, 1937” at MoMA (Museum of Modern Arts) was one of his favorites, and the Spanish artist significantly influenced his art view moving forward.

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Portrait of A-One A.K.A. King was executed in 1982, during the turning point of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s career. 1982 was a pivotal year for Basquiat, as it marked his transition from the street culture to the fine art world. He also had the first solo show of his career, which earned a lot of accolades from the art community.

As a matter of fact, many of Basquiat’s finest works came from 1982, when he demonstrated full exuberance with no constraints or pressure from galleries.

As you may tell by the title of the painting, it portrays his close friend, frequent collaborator, and fellow New York street graffiti artist A-One (Anthony Clarke), standing beside a chair, in front of a wall covered in graffiti tags. This is one of the two Basquiat paintings of the artist, with the other one being executed in 1985.

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