A key figure in the blue-chip art market as well as a symbol of luxury, Jean-Michel Basquiat never lacked a market following both throughout his short yet explosive career and after his death at age 27.
Back in 1983, as the young artist rose to fame and success, he set out to create three large-scale canvases to address issues of representation within the white-dominated art world.
One of them, El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile) – also known as History of the Black People – had been in the collection of legendary Italian fashion designer Valentino Garavani since 2005, and was brought back to the market as the star highlight of Christie's 21st-century evening sale in New York this season.
Demonstrating that the hot market for the artist has yet to cool down, the three-metre triptych, which traverses through Black history in its three panels, eventually changed hands for US$67 million – the fourth-highest price paid for a work by Basquiat.
Jean-Michel Basquiat's El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile) hammered at US$58 million
Lot 6B | Jean-Michel Basquiat | El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile), Acrylic and oilstick on canvas mounted on wood supports in three parts
Executed in 1983
172.5 x 358 cm
Provenance (Edited by The Value):
- Annina Nosei Gallery, New York
- Enrico Navarra, Paris
- Anon. sale; Sotheby’s, New York, 9 November 2005, lot 38 (Sold: US$5.2 million)
- Acquired at the above sale by the present owner
- Property from a distinguished collection
Estimate on request (in the region of US$45,00,000)
Hammer Price: US$58,000,000
Sold: US$67,110,000
Bidding for the monumental work opened at US$40 million and it quickly and steadily climbed in US$1 million increments.
Along with two interested buyers on the phone – one represented by Christie's Global President Jussi Pylkkanen and the other Vanessa Fusco, Co-Head of the 20th Century Evening Sale and Head of Impressionist and Modern Art Department – there were interests coming online and from a gentleman in the saleroom, who turned out to be mega-dealer Larry Gagosian.
As the price rose to US$58 million after 16 bids, the art-world heavyweight eventually gave in, and the work was hammered to Vanessa Fusco's client with paddle number 8063 for a final price with fees of US$67.1 million – making it the fourth-most expensive work by Basquiat to ever sell at auction.
Vanessa Fusco won the lot for her client with paddle number 8063
Untitled (1982) | 183.2 x 173 cm | Sold: US$110,487,500, Sotheby’s New York, May 2017
In This Case (1983), 197.8 x 187.3 cm | Sold: US$93,105,000, Christie’s New York, May 2021
Basquiat's auction record now stands at an astonishing US$110 million, achieved by his azure-and-black skull painting Untitled in May 2017 – which also made him the most expensive American artist ever sold at auction then.
Taking second place is another iconic skull painting, In This Case, which sold for US$93.1 million in May 2021 by Valentino's co-founder Giancarlo Giammetti.
Basquiat's Global Auction Records:
- Untitled (1982) | 183.2 x 173 cm | Sold: US$110,487,500, Sotheby’s New York, May 2017
- In This Case (1983) | 197.8 x 187.3 cm | Sold: US$93,105,000, Christie’s New York, May 2021
- Untitled (1982) | 239.4 x 501 cm | Sold: US$85,000,000, Phillips New York, May 2022
- El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile) (1983) | 172.5 x 358 cm | Sold: US$67,110,000, Christie's New York, May 2023
- Versus Medici (1982) | 214 x 137.8 cm | Sold: US$50,820,000, Sotheby's New York, May 2021
The present work could be seen hanging at Garavani's New York home in a photograph taken of him in 2010 for Vanity Fair
Valentino's 2006 Fall collection paid tribute to Basquiat with dresses in a graffiti print licensed from the artist's archive
Basquiat
El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile) was last seen on the auction block in 2005, when it was sold for US$5.2 million by Enrico Navarra – a gallerist, book publisher, and prominent collector of Basquiat’s work – to Valentino Garavani.
An avid art collector who has long appreciated Basquiat, Garavani once paid tribute to the talented artist in 2006, when he designed dresses in a graffiti print licensed from the artist archive for Valentino's Fall collection.
While the current work has resided in Garavani's personal collection for nearly two decades, it made appearance in a 2010 issue of Vanity Fair, in which the designer was photographed seated in front of the painting at his New York home.
El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile)
Painted when Basquiat was just 23 years old, The Nile is one of three large-scale canvases executed in 1983, the year which saw him move from documenting his own personal narrative of growing up in a predominantly white city, to tackling issues of representation within the grand theater of world history.
Walking through Black history in its three panels, from left to right the painting chronicles the passage of Africans from the building of civilization on the banks of the Nile River, to the ancient trading capital of Memphis, Lower Egypt, then – tracing the progress of the watery thoroughfare towards the Mediterranean – moves up through the Old World to the New, and on to the Americas and Memphis, Tennessee – a city in the US which experienced some of the worst examples of racial violence.
On the left panel, the two African masks refer to the the primitive beginnings of man and art
The sickle boat appears most predominantly in the central panel
The contemporary themes of racist subjugation in the right panel
Memphis is a city in Tennesee, as well as the ancient capital of the first nome of Lower Egypt
Amongst an intoxicating array of signs and iconography, taking the center place is the crescent yellow boat which Basquiat has identified with the word SICKLE.
A direct appropriation from predynastic Egyptian rock art, it refers to the sickle-shaped boat used by the ancient Egyptians, as well as echoing the haunting image of the 'Brookes' slave ship that illustrates how enslaved Africans were transported to the Americas from early in the 19th century.
Also important compositionally, the sickle boat serves as a bridge to link the two African masks and Voodoo symbols in the left panel to the contemporary themes of racist subjugation in the right panel.
Other Record-Breaking Lots:
Lot 4B | Simone Leigh | Stick, Bronze (Auction record for the artist)
Executed in 2019; Number two from an edition of three, plus an artist's proof
215.9 x 160 x 160 cm
Provenance:
- Luhring Augustine Gallery, New York
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: US$2,000,000 - 3,000,000
Hammer Price: US$2,200,000
Sold: US$2,712,000
Lot 16B | El Anatsui | Prophet, found aluminum bottle caps and copper wire (Auction record for the artist)
Executed in 2012
271.8 x 248.9 x 21.3 cm
Provenance:
- Axel Vervoordt Gallery, Antwerp
- Acquired from the above by the present owner, 2013
Estimate: US$800,000 - 1,200,000
Hammer Price: US$1,800,000
Sold: US$2,228,000
Lot 24B | Diane Arbus | A box of ten photographs, Portfolio of ten gelatin silver prints (Auction record for the artist)
Privately published in 1970 and printed in 1973 by Neil Selkirk; Number fifteen from the edition of fifty
Each image: 37.4 x 37.4 cm
Provenance:
- Private Collection, France, 1974
- Phillips de Pury & Luxembourg, New York, October 17, 2003, lot 47
- acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: US$900,000 - 1,200,000
Hammer Price: US$800,000
Sold: US$1,008,000
Lot 18B | Peter Saul | Human Dignity, Acrylic, metallic paint, oil and ink on canvas (Auction record for the artist)
Executed in 1966
149.5 x 149.9 cm
Provenance:
- Allan Frumkin Gallery, Chicago and New York, acquired directly from the artist
- Estate of Allan Frumkin, New York
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: US$300,000 - 400,000
Hammer Price: US$650,000
Sold: US$819,000
Lot 1B | Robin F. Williams | Ice Queen, Oil and acrylic on canvas (Auction record for the artist)
Painted in 2019
182.8 x 127 cm
Provenance:
- P.P.O.W, New York
- Various Small Fires, Los Angeles
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: US$100,000 - 150,000
Hammer Price: US$340,000
Sold: US$428,400
Lot 2B | Vojtěch Kovařík | Aphrodite, Acrylic on canvas (Auction record for the artist)
Painted in 2020
160 x 150 cm
Provenance:
- Mendes Wood DM, New York
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: US$80,000 - 120,000
Hammer Price: US$300,000
Sold: US$378,000
Lot 13B | Danielle Mckinney | We Need to Talk, Acrylic on canvas (Auction record for the artist)
Painted in 2020
50.8 x 40.6 cm
Provenance:
- Night Gallery, Los Angeles
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: US$20,000 - 30,000
Hammer Price: US$160,000
Sold: US$201,600
Lot 22 B | Rebecca Ackroyd | Garden tender, Gouache and soft pastel on Somerset satin paper (Auction record for the artist)
Executed in 2020
184.8 x 132.7 cm
Provenance:
- Peres Projects, Berlin
- Acquired from the above by the present owner
Estimate: US$20,000 - 30,000
Hammer Price: US$45,000
Sold: US$56,700
Auction Details:
Auction House: Christie's New York
Sale: 21st Century Evening Sale
Date: 15 May 2023
Number of Lots: 26
Sold: 25
Unsold: 1
Sale Rate: 96.2%
Sale Total: US$98,802,500