One of the most valuable commissions at this season’s New York auction-house sales is an early work by Jean-Michel Basquiat, Crowns (Peso Neto) (1981). It will lead Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Sale on 18 November, among the first sales to take place at the auction house’s new headquarters in the Breuer Building.
The year 1981 was a turning point for Basquiat’s career, marking his transition from New York street artist to international art-market darling. That year, the 20-year-old artist made his first painting sale to Blondie singer Debbie Harry and took part in his first gallery exhibition, a group show called New York/New Wave at PS1 in Long Island City under the name SAMO, the graffiti tag he shared with his high-school friend Al Diaz.
At that show, Basquiat captured the attention of the art dealer Annina Nosei, who would let Basquiat use her gallery basement as a studio and gave him his first solo show the following year. Crowns (Peso Neto), dated to 1981, was created in that basement and part of that first show. The painting includes Basquiat’s recognisable crown motif.
Sotheby’s specialists believe Crowns (Peso Neto) will bring in between $35m and $40m, the highest estimate of any Basquiat work from 1981, the auction house says. The painting comes from a European collection and has never appeared at auction before. Crowns (Peso Neto) will go on display today (9 October) in London until 16 October, its first public display since 2018, when it was part of Basquiat’s blockbuster Fondation Louis Vuitton retrospective in Paris.
