When Christie's opened its state-of-the-art Asia-Pacific headquarters at The Henderson last September, it made a splash with an inaugural evening sale that set Asian auction records for modern art legends Vincent van Gogh and Claude Monet.
Now, as the 2025 spring auctions approach, Christie's continues to lead the market for Western art with its upcoming 20th and 21st Century Evening Sale later this month. Headlining the auction is Sabado por la Noche (Saturday Night) (1984), a striking two-meter work by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Estimated at HK$95 to 125 million (US$13 - 16 million), the work is poised to be a major highlight of this year's Art March Hong Kong.
Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) | Sabado por la Noche (Saturday Night), acrylic, silkscreen, oil stick and paper collage on canvas
Executed in 1984
195.6 x 223.5 cm
Provenance:
- Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich / Mary Boone, New York
- Galerie Yvon Lambert, Paris
- Galerie Daniel Templon, Paris
- Acquired from the above by the present owner in 1993
- Property from a distinguished Asian private collection
Estimate: HK$95,000,000 - 125,000,000 (US$13 - 16 million)
A cultural icon and a defining figure in the blue-chip art market, Jean-Michel Basquiat is celebrated as one of the most influential artists of the modern era. Rising from the streets of New York to international stardom in the 1980s, Basquiat quickly became renowned for his groundbreaking artistry and cultural impact.
Though his career was tragically cut short by his death at 27, his works have continued to dominate the global auction stage, achieving record-breaking prices decades later. In May 2017, his iconic painting Untitled – a striking azure-and-black skull – sold for an astonishing US$110 million, making him the most expensive American artist ever sold at auction at the time.
Beyond the Western art market, he was one of the first Western artists to gain significant recognition among Asian collectors: he holds the two spots for the most expensive Western artworks ever sold in Asia, with a record standing at HK$323 million (US$41.5 million), set by Warrior at Christie's Hong Kong in 2021.
And while the global art market has faced challenges amid political and economic uncertainty in recent years, demand for Basquiat's works remains strong. During the spring sales last year, his 1982 masterpiece Untitled (ELMAR) was the top lot of the entire season, achieving US$46.5 million in New York. Meanwhile, Native Carrying Some Guns, Bibles, Amorites on Safari led the auctions in Hong Kong, selling for HK$99 million (US$12.6 million).
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Jean-Michel Basquiat | Warrior (1982) | Sold: HK$323,600,000 (US$41.7 million), Christie's Hong Kong, March 2021
Top 5 most expensive Western artworks ever sold in Asia:
- Jean-Michel Basquiat | Warrior (1982) | 183 x 122 cm | Sold: HK$323,600,000 (US$41.7 million), Christie's Hong Kong, March 2021
- Jean-Michel Basquiat | Untitled (1985) (Acrylic and oilstick on wood, in three parts) | 217.2 x 275.6 x 30.5 cm | Sold: HK$289,316,000 (US$37.3 million), Sotheby's Hong Kong, June 2021
- Amedeo Modigliani | Paulette Jourdain (circa 1919) | 100.3 x 65.4 cm | Sold: HK$272,905,000 (US$35 million), Sotheby's Hong Kong, October 2023
- Mark Rothko | Untitled (Yellow and Blue) (1954) | 242.9 x 186.7 cm | Sold: HK$252,500,000, Sotheby's Hong Kong, November 2024
- Vincent van Gogh | Les canots amarrés (1887) | 52 x 65 cm | Sold: HK$250,625,000, Christie's Hong Kong, September 2024
Jean-Michel Basquiat | Untitled (1985) | Sold: HK$289,316,000 (US$37.3 million), Sotheby's Hong Kong, June 2021
Jean-Michel Basquiat | Native Carrying Some Guns, Bibles, Amorites on Safari (1982) | Sold: HK$98,735,000 (US$12.6 million), Phillips Hong Kong, 2024
Painted in 1984, the present lot, Sabado por la Noche (Saturday Night), is a vivid and multi-layered work that captures a key moment in Basquiat's career. In August 1983, the artist moved into a loft owned by Andy Warhol, marking the beginning of their intense artistic collaboration in silkscreen. Over the next two years, his dialogue with Warhol profoundly influenced his practice, resulting in greater material depth – the use of the silkscreen in particular – and thematic complexity.
By 1984, Basquiat's trajectory as an artist was firmly established. Just two years earlier, in 1982 – widely regarded as the defining year of his career – he had transitioned from living on the streets to becoming a well-recognized figure in the international art world, with major gallery shows and critical acclaim that propelled him into the global spotlight. In 1984, Basquiat reached another milestone with his first solo museum exhibition, which opened at the Fruitmarket Gallery in Edinburgh before travelling to London's Institute of Contemporary Art.
Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat
Sabado por la Noche (Saturday Night)
The Spanish title of this painting, Sabado por la Noche, reflects Basquiat's multicultural roots. Having grown up in a multilingual household, Basquiat was fluent in Spanish and often incorporated the language into his work. The painting's central figures – griots – are brought to life with bold strokes of Abstract Expressionist color, blending African cultural history with the modern language of painting.
Discussing his use of African imagery, the artist once said, "I've never been to Africa. I'm an artist who has been influenced by his New York environment. But I have a cultural memory. I don't need to look for it; it exists. It's over there, in Africa. That doesn't mean that I have to go live there. Our cultural memory follows us everywhere, wherever you live."
New York was the epicenter of Basquiat's life and art – a whirlwind of influences where voodoo rituals and TV ads, Picasso and subway graffiti, da Vinci and Warhol all collided on equal footing. His interest in history and culture was fed as much by firsthand experience as by books. While he often visited institutions like the Metropolitan Museum, much of his inspiration came from printed and textual sources.
He famously devoured Gray's Anatomy and a collection of da Vinci's drawings during his youth, and books remained a wellspring of stimulation throughout his mature practice. One especially influential text was Robert Farris Thompson's Flash of the Spirit, a groundbreaking study of African spiritual roots in contemporary culture. Introduced to the book by his friend Shenge Ka Pharaoh, Basquiat became so enamored with it that he invited Thompson to write an essay for his 1985 solo exhibition catalog in New York.
One of the griots in the present painting
Sabado por la Noche was showcased at Heads On: Jean-Michel Basquiat & Andy Warhol alongside Warrior
As with many of the faces that fill Basquiat’s most celebrated works, the griots in Sabado por la Noche reveal Basquiat's fascination with layered meanings. Outlined in stark white, their forms suggest skeletons and muscles beneath the skin, exploring the boundaries between external appearances and the hidden layers beneath – a recurring theme in Basquiat's work.
Elsewhere in the painting, graffiti-like bursts of words and symbols dissolve distinctions between past and present. Elements of the solar system, Fibonacci's golden ratio, and the iconic spiral symbol all come together in this single composition.
Last seen on the auction block in 2019, Sabado por la Noche fetched £8.37 million at Christie's London. In 2023, it was featured in Heads On: Jean-Michel Basquiat & Andy Warhol, an exhibition Christie's curated in collaboration with Hyundai Card, Seoul during Seoul Art Week. Now estimated at HK$95 - 125 million, whether the painting's return to auction will deliver a surprise remains to be seen.