indistinctly signed and dated ’88’ (on the reverse)
acrylic on canvas
47 ¾ x 37 ¾ x 4in. (121.3 x 95.9 x 10.2cm.)
Painted in the final year of his life, Self-Portrait is a vivid climax to Jean-Michel Basquiat’s meteoric career. The artist’s black silhouette emerges from a stark white backdrop, wearing his distinctive crown of dreads. His eyes and grin gleam laser-red; flashes of green and gold lend him a regal underglow, like the gilded image of a saint. With his arms raised, the artist evokes his iconic depictions of victorious boxers, as well as the praying Dogon sculptures of central Mali, whose gestures symbolise a link between earth and heaven. At the same time, he seems to fall apart: his arms disintegrate in a flurry of expressive brushstrokes, like the wings of Icarus turning to ash. It is a striking self-image of power, pain and pride. Picturing both triumph and surrender, Basquiat asserts his status as king of the art world, and boldly faces his own mortality.
