Overview

• Sotheby’s is positioning the painting as the marquee lot of its Nov. 18 Contemporary Evening Sale in New York, tied to the Nov. 8 opening of its Breuer Building headquarters.
• Public viewings run in London Oct. 9–16 during Frieze Week, then in Paris Oct. 20–24 to coincide with Art Basel Paris, with New York previews to follow.
• Reported pricing diverges, with ARTnews citing a $45 million high estimate and The Art Newspaper relaying Sotheby’s specialists at $35 million to $40 million, the top range for a 1981 Basquiat.
• The work was created in 1981 in Annina Nosei’s gallery basement, debuted in Basquiat’s 1982 first solo show, appeared at Documenta 7, and was last publicly seen at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in 2018.
• The painting comes from a European collection and has never appeared at auction, as rival house Phillips readies a separate 1982 Basquiat work on paper for Oct. 16 in London with a £3 million high estimate.