Here we are with our weekly update from the auction houses around the world. In a period of critical economical situation, to create strong expectations is the work of Basquiat "Untitled (Head)", that Sotheby's has estimated to sell for $ 12 million at the auction to be held on June 29, 2020 in New York.
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Even during this crisis time, the British auction house has proven to be unstoppable by volunteering yet another sales record to the list and its Sotheby's highest estimate in Europe. For its next appointment in New York on June 29, 2020, Sotheby's has also decided to include Jean Michel Basquiat's "Untitled (Head)" 1982. The work will in fact represent the focus of the evening: "The design in question encompasses the best of Basquiat's brilliant career," said Grégoire Billault of Sotheby's Contemporary Art department. "There is a sense of urgency and immediacy in this painting that is truly exceptional - a pre-scientific work that captures and defines New York in the 1980s, demonstrating the young artist's profound psychological awareness". The image's immediacy and almost the absence of narration are constitutive elements of Basquiat's language. The artist was obsessively attracted to the analysis and representation of the human head. His faces scrutinize, investigate as if they saw. The gaze of "Untitled (Head)" it burns and is full of emotional charge.
“Untitled (Head) "is a superlative work that exemplifies Basquiat's ability to translate the energy of time into ink, oil and acrylic. Belonging to the artist until his death (1988), when the artist was just 27 years old, the work is striking for the immediacy of the image and the almost absence of narration, both two typical aspects of his style and in this piece the face become dense of emotional. Buyers will participate through a dedicated platform or by telephone offers. The value of "Untitled (Head)" is between nine and twelve million dollars. The work is part of a series, "Heads", a conceptual keystone "for the entire artistic work of Basquiat, which reached its peak in 1982.
In the Sotheby's auction (originally scheduled for May) we find other exceptional pieces, such as "Triptych Inspired by the Oresteia of Aeschylus" (1981) by Francis Bacon, estimated at 60 million dollars; "White Brushstroke I" (1965), by Roy Lichstein estimated between 20 and 30 million dollars. Sotheby's will also present Vija Celmins (Latvian-American artist) "Night Sky # 7" (1995). Recently exhibited in a major retrospective at the MET in New York, the value of the painting is expected to range from 6 to 8 million dollars.