Christie’s announced that a triple portrait by Jean-Michel Basquiat will headline the auction house’s 21st Century Evening Sale on May 14 in New York. Painted at the height of the artist’s career, Baby Boom is poised to fetch between $20 million and $30 million.
“Family Lineage, Royalty, and Spirituality” in Basquiat’s Baby Boom
Jean-Michel Basquiat masterfully merged graffiti-like text and symbol-laden imagery in his work. Baby Boom—a stylized spin on the Renaissance triptych format—is believed to depict Jean-Michel Basquiat with his parents, Gerard and Matilda. All three figures wear halo-like crowns. The painting’s title references the generation that resulted from rising birthrates after World War II. Basquiat was born in 1960, near the end of the Baby Boom generation. He died in 1988 at age 27.
Basquiat debuted the 4-by-7-foot stretcher-bar painting at his famous solo exhibition at Fun Gallery in Manhattan in 1982. Since then, Baby Boom has been featured in some of the most important Basquiat retrospectives. “Baby Boom is Basquiat’s contemplation of family lineage, royalty, and spirituality,” said Isabella Lauria, head of Christie’s 21st-century Evening Sale. “We are thrilled to showcase it as the lead highlight of the 21st Century Evening Sale this spring.”
Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1982
In a press statement, Christie’s said, “Baby Boom was executed in 1982, known as Basquiat’s annus mirabilis, both a pivotal moment in his career and a highly coveted year for collectors, during which he created seven of his top 10 priced artworks.” That year’s Fun Gallery exhibition secured the Brooklyn-born artist’s place as a leading figure in the New York art scene. It also helped make 1982 the most commercially successful and influential year of his career.
In 2024, Basquiat‘s 1982 painting Untitled (ELMAR) sold at Phillips in New York for $46.6 million—the fourth-highest auction result of the year. Another untitled 1982 painting, a vibrant depiction of a face in the shape of a skull, sold for $110.5 million at Sotheby’s in 2017. This sale set a new auction record for Basquiat and, at the time, a new record for a work by any American artist. This record was later surpassed by a $195 million Andy Warhol work, which Christie’s sold in 2022.
