New York (EFE).- A painting by the painter Jean Michel Basquiat, “The Great Spectacle (The Nile)” was sold today for 67.1 million dollars (61.7 million euros) in an auction organized by the Christie House ´s in New York.
Basquiat’s painting thus far exceeds the 45 million that were listed as the output estimate and is on its way to becoming one of the best sales of the spring season that began last week in the big New York houses.
Today’s auction has closed with a total figure of 98.98 million dollars, adding all the paintings for sale.
Painted in 1983, The Great Show (titled in Spanish) presents the artist’s typical skulls, with clear African reminiscences and what appears to be an Egyptian ship piloted by the god Osiris that sails through Memphis and Thebes, Tennessee cities with Egyptian names.
The work has been part of the collection of fashion designer Valentino Garavani, who acquired it for 5.2 million in 2005, according to Artnews, and since then it has been one of the masterpieces of what he called the “Garavani Museum.”
“El Gran Espectáculo” thus becomes the fourth most expensive canvas by the artist of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent, still far from the 110.5 million paid at Sotheby’s for the work “Untitled” from 1982, which was sold in 2017 in Sotheby’s.
In recent years, Basquiat has become a must-have artist at the big New York auctions, along with Francis Bacon, Pablo Picasso, and all the Impressionists, who alone dominate the big fall and spring sales.