Christie’s to Sell $30 M. Basquiat Painting During May Auctions

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s market dominance seems poised to continue during the May auctions in New York, where Christie’s will sell one of his paintings with a $20 million–$30 million estimate.

The painting, titled Baby Boom, was made in 1982, the same year as many of his most expensive works—including the untitled one that set his auction record at $110.5 million in 2017.

This one featured in a storied 1982 exhibition at Fun Gallery (whose cofounder, Patti Astor, died last year). That show helped put Basquiat on the fast track, asserting his place as a star of the New York scene.

It features three figures, each rendered in Basquiat’s signature painting style that variously recalls graffiti and modernist art, including the work of Pablo Picasso. Its title references the generation that resulted from a rising birth rate during the postwar era.

“The three featured figures in this work are thought to be the artist alongside his parents, adorned with halo-like crowns,” said Isabella Lauria, Christie’s head of 21st-century art sales, in a statement. “Resembling a three-paneled altarpiece of the Renaissance, Baby Boom is Basquiat’s contemplation of family lineage, royalty, and spirituality.”

When the work appears at Christie’s on May 14 in a sale 21st-century art, it will not be the first time it has come to market in the past decade.

In 2017, Baby Boom also appeared at the booth of Lévy Gorvy gallery (now known as Lévy Gorvy Dayan), where it was given a $30 million price tag. At the time, Nate Freeman reported in ARTnews that Peter Brant, an ARTnews Top 200 Collector who has owned many notable Basquiats, was its seller.

Basquiat is among the most expensive contemporary artists, with paintings regularly selling for millions of dollars at auction. If this one sells toward the upper end of its estimate, it will become one of the priciest works by him ever publicly auctioned.