Basquiat

SAMO

Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960–1988) grew up in Brooklyn with Haitian and Puerto Rican roots. In the late 1970s he and his friend Al Diaz sprayed cryptic, poetic messages around Lower Manhattan, signed SAMO©.

Gallery star

By the early 1980s Basquiat went from painting walls to selling out galleries. His work is raw and packed with words, skulls, anatomy and history, especially Black history. And there’s the three-pointed crown, his signature.

Warhol and Basquiat

The young star and the pop-art legend became friends and painted together in the mid-’80s, one of the most famous collaborations in art.

Gone at 27

Basquiat died of a drug overdose in 1988, at 27. His career lasted less than a decade.

Basquiat and hip-hop

• He produced a 1983 rap record, "Beat Bop".
• Rappers name-drop him constantly, and the crown became a symbol of hip-hop royalty.
• Jay-Z is a well-known Basquiat collector, and in 2021 a Tiffany ad starring Jay-Z and Beyoncé featured a Basquiat painting.