Althouse: Jean-Michel Basquiat is "now in the same league as Francis Bacon and Pablo Picasso."

May 18, 2017

Jean-Michel Basquiat is "now in the same league as Francis Bacon and Pablo Picasso."

The crowd gasped as his painting of a skull just sold for $110.5 million.

23 comments:

David Begley said...: George W. Bush and Althouse could do better. Not seeing the $110m. More like $110. Tops. With buyer's premium.; 5/18/17, 8:23 PM
Heywood Rice said...: ...Trump.; 5/18/17, 8:26 PM
rehajm said...: Dude's in a Blondie video. Used to see him on the street. Nothing said $$$$ at the time...; 5/18/17, 8:30 PM
Bill, Republic of Texas said...: Yes the richest need another tax cut. Go GOPe!; 5/18/17, 8:45 PM
MikeR said...: Judging by the picture of the painting, I wouldn't want it at all. But what do I know.; 5/18/17, 8:51 PM
Jupiter said...: I am glad to read that the idiot who bought that painting is $110 miliion dollars poorer. Wish it were more.; 5/18/17, 8:56 PM
Sprezzatura said...: "Judging by the picture of the painting, I wouldn't want it at all."

Give it more time. Still drawin' a blank?

Anywho,

I wonder how much time Maezawa will clock staring at the real deal? I guess a lot. Hard to put a price on that.

Not to mention the investment potential. Nuttin's for sure, but this was an auction, so there's other interest around this number, even today.

Money well spent, from his POV.; 5/18/17, 9:00 PM
Sprezzatura said...: BTW, you folks do realize that we don't live in a society where dudes w/ the biggest clubs and biceps are at the top of the heap re metrics that matter, i.e. accounting, i.e. dough accumulation.

So, if you're so much smarter than Maezawa, how come you're not a billionaire?

Just sayin'; 5/18/17, 9:04 PM
Fernandinande said...: Grounds for impeachment.; 5/18/17, 9:16 PM
Richard said...: $110M for just a picture of a skull. How much can I get for the real thing?; 5/18/17, 9:20 PM
Quaestor said...: ...Hillary; 5/18/17, 9:21 PM
JackWayne said...: I've seen similar skulls on punk band posters.; 5/18/17, 9:22 PM
YoungHegelian said...: Izzn't there some sayin' about a fool & his money? I know there is. Help me out here, willya?; 5/18/17, 9:25 PM
MathMom said...: It looks like graffiti on the side of a building. Unimpressive in the extreme.; 5/18/17, 9:32 PM
Fernandinande said...: "Frog with Spear in Speedos Menaces Kissing Giraffes"; 5/18/17, 9:41 PM
madAsHell said...: Paraphrasing John Lennon......"It took Picasso 40 years to create something that stupid"; 5/18/17, 10:31 PM
Gahrie said...: I'd hang it in my house...but I would be just as happy with a print, or a copy. Still there are worse ways to spend your money.; 5/18/17, 10:46 PM
Hammond X. Gritzkofe said...: That'll keep the neighbors away. Dude wants his privacy.; 5/19/17, 3:04 AM
Unknown said...: revisionist history will be a bitch. he also comes with side benefits of Warhol association, dead early on drugs, non-white... someday, I think most modern work will be washed out to sea and forgotten. it is highly enabled at this time. personally, I have been sick of death skulls for at least 15 years... note rise of Cinco de Mayo which was a nothing-burger back in the day...; 5/19/17, 3:41 AM
whitney said...: I don't think it says anything about the quality of the art

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-04-27/want-to-avoid-u-s-taxes-on-an-80-million-warhol-buy-more-art; 5/19/17, 5:48 AM
George M. Spencer said...: Contrary to what many believe, he grew up in an upper middle class home and studied books of anatomy drawings given him by his mother.

A great, great, great artist.; 5/19/17, 7:16 AM
BillyTalley said...: The value of art stems from the unwillingness to part with it. I don't have the exact facts on hand, but I think this painting was held by the collector for 30 years. Basquiat was graced with legend status, like Marilyn Monroe or Hendricks: died young, drug habits, genuine talent to be sure, the exoticism of race, the timing of his emergence, a storied life... The rest of the story is the operation of the marketplace.; 5/19/17, 7:44 AM
Trumpit said...: "I'd hang it in my house...but I would be just as happy with a print, or a copy. Still there are worse ways to spend your money."

Your comment is silly considering the buyer paid $110,000,000 for a painting. Let me fix your unthinking comment for you: Still, there are better ways to spend your money. Fixed.; 5/19/17, 7:54 AM