Basquiat sells for $41.9M in Hong Kong

A 1982 painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat titled “Warrior” recently sold for $41.9 million at Christie’s auction in Hong Kong.

The painting is believed to symbolize the struggles Black men face in a white-dominated world. Christie’s said although the Warrior Basquiat painting was sold at the highest price for a Western artwork in Asia, there could be a minor challenge. At a Sotheby’s sale in 2017 in New York, Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezewa collected Basquiat’s “Untitled” painting at $110 million.

“The Basquiat is one of the strongest markets to emerge from the pandemic,” said Christophe van de Weghe, Basquiat's dealer. “It’s all over the world. You can sell Basquait, like Picasso, to someone in India, Kazakhstan, or Mexico. You can have a 28-year-old man spending millions on Basquiat and you can have an 85 old guy. It appeals to all kinds of people from rappers to hedge funds.”

The “Warrior” was estimated between $31 million and $41 million. It depicts a figure with flaming eyes with a sword in its hands raised against blue and yellow spots. The painting has been auctioned four times, including Tuesday’s sale. It was last on sale at Sotheby’s in 2021 at $8.7 million. It was bought by real estate mogul Aby Rosen.

Basquiat’s 1982 painting “Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump” was one of the best-known deals of last year. It was bought by fund hedge manager Ken Griffin for more than $100 million but was suspended from Art Institute of Chicago.

Basquiat was born on December 22, 1960, to a Haitian father and a Puerto-Rican mother. Even though he has passed away, Basquiat remains a popular figure in global arts and culture. His life’s experiences inspired most of his paintings. At age 7 he was involved in a car accident which resulted in splenectomy, his parents divorced at the same age. Afterward his mother was admitted into a mental institution. At age 15, he dropped out at 15, then homeless and hopeless. Life was difficult for Basquiat until he began selling his paintings for $25,000.

The deceased painter was intentional and well versed with the social issues of his time. He once said, “the black person is the protagonist in most of my paintings. I realized that I didn’t see many paintings with black people in them.”

Before his death, Basquait maintained a celebrity status, and was friends with pop artists Andy Warhol and dated Madonna.