A Rare Early Basquiat Painting Could Fetch $15 Million at Auction

A Rare Early Basquiat Painting Could Fetch $15 Million at Auction

An untitled work by Jean-Michel Basquiat from 1981 will star in the Sotheby's Contemporary Evening sale in May, where it could fetch $15 million.

The fortuitous finds of works of art forgotten in attrition or hidden between objects discarded in markets are not a legend. Let them tell it to the second-hand shop of Antwerp, Belgium, which has just sold for 12,600 euros a ceramic signed by Pablo Picasso dated in 1953, coming from a limited edition and which was in a game of objects that he had received from a donor. Continue reading

A ceramic bowl depicting a bullfight made by Pablo Picasso was found in a second-hand goods store in Antwerp, the Belgian news agency reported on Friday.

A special earthenware bowl was brought to Kringwinkel Antwerp: signed Picasso. The bowl has since been auctioned on the shop's website for 12,600 euros. Earlier, Kringwinkel Antwerp discovered an etching by painter James Ensor. It was donated to the KMSKA.

Rare Early Basquiat to Lead Sotheby’s Contemporary Auctions in New York with $10 M. to $15 M. Estimate

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s market remains anything but quiet. This May, a rediscovered early painting by the artist will headline Sotheby’s Contemporary Evening Auction in New York with a $10 million to $15 million estimate. The untitled 1981 work hasn’t been seen publicly in 36 years. It was acquired in 1989 and has remained tucked away in the same private collection ever since—until now. Painted when Basquiat was just 20 years old, the five-foot…

Whoever donated it probably regrets it now.