Jean-Michel Basquiat

Jean-Michel Basquiat never got married but was known to have been in a relationship with singer Madonna. He had no children.

He died on 12 August 1988, at the age of 27, in Manhattan, New York, due to a drug overdose.

Jean-Michel Basquiat was born on 22 December 1960 in Brooklyn located in New York, United States to Gerard Basquiat and Matilda Andrades. His father who was from Haiti, was an accountant by professions. Jean was the eldest of two children; the other two being girls.

He learnt to read and write by the time he was only four years old and in addition to that he showed a gift for the arts from an early age as well. He studied at the Edward R. Murrow High School located in Brooklyn but he quit school when he was in the tenth grade.

After he quit school, his father was displeased with his decision and drove him out of the house. He lived with his friends while he studied at the City-As-School, a school of alternative education meant for arts students who had not been able to complete school education. During these years, he supported himself by selling post cards and T-shirts.

Jean-Michel Basquiat started off his career as a graffiti artist, in 1976. He teamed up with his friend Al Diaz and used spray paints to paint graffiti on buildings located in the Lower Manhattan area of New York. They worked under the pseudonym SAMO and continued to work as a graffiti artist for the next three years.

He started working as an artist for the Unique Clothing Warehouse located in North of Houston Street in Manhattan, New York in 1978. The owner of the company was impressed with his work as a graffiti artist and gave him the job. Around that time, his graffiti art was featured in a piece by the publication ‘The Village Voice’.

He appeared on television for the first time in 1979 in the show titled ‘TV Party’ and he worked on the show for some years.

In 1979, he founded the rock band Test Pattern along with Michael Holman, Wayne Clifford, Nick Taylor, Shannon Dawson and Vincent Gallow. The band performed at several well-known nightclubs. The following year he appeared in the film ‘Downtown 81’. Artist Andy Warhol was impressed with his paintings and the two worked on joint projects a few years down the line.

In 1980, he exhibited his works of art at the ‘The Times Square Show’ and in the same year, he started working on his inaugural one man show which was hosted the following year. The one man show was a resounding success and ‘Artform’ magazine published his notable work ‘The Radian Child’. A year later he spent some time in Modena in Italy for his work.

A painting he produced in 1982, which bears no title, is considered to be his most important work. It is the image of a skull and is an excellent reflection of the versatility that he possessed as an artist.