Jean-Michel Basquiat Prints For Sale

Jean-Michel Basquiat is among the most important American artists of the late twentieth century and one of the defining figures of the contemporary market. Born in Brooklyn in 1960 to Haitian and Puerto Rican parents, Basquiat developed an artistic language that fused graffiti, poetry, anatomy, jazz, sport and art history into a body of work unlike anything produced in New York during the 1980s. Though his career lasted little more than a decade, his paintings, drawings and prints permanently reshaped the relationship between street culture, contemporary painting and the global art market.

Before international recognition came SAMO. During the late 1970s, Basquiat and Al Diaz began painting cryptic texts and epigrams across Lower Manhattan under the tag “SAMO” — shorthand for “Same Old Shit.” The phrases were sharp, political and often darkly humorous, appearing across subway stations, storefronts and downtown walls before attracting wider attention through the Village Voice and New York’s emerging alternative art scene. By the early 1980s Basquiat was exhibiting alongside artists including Andy Warhol, Keith Haring and Jenny Holzer, while rapidly becoming one of the youngest artists ever included in both Documenta and the Whitney Biennial.

His paintings and works on paper combined skeletal figures, fragmented language, anatomical studies, crowns, crosses and references to Black history, jazz musicians, boxing and classical drawing into dense, layered compositions that remain immediately recognisable today. Across both paintings and prints, Basquiat repeatedly returned to themes of power, identity, mortality, fame and exploitation, producing works that continue to resonate far beyond the period in which they were made.

Basquiat died in 1988 at the age of 27, yet his market has continued to strengthen dramatically in the decades since. Major paintings now rank among the most valuable works in contemporary art, while estate editions, signed works on paper and complete portfolios remain central to the international Basquiat market today.

Alex Yellop specialise in Jean-Michel Basquiat prints, estate editions and works on paper spanning the artist’s most important series and portfolios, with expertise across rare editions, complete portfolios and significant works from the wider Basquiat market.

For information on available Jean-Michel Basquiat prints and artworks for sale, contact our London dealership via info@alexyellop.com. 

Looking to sell? Discover how to sell your Basquiat prints.