Inside the new Basquiat exhibition at Fondation Louis Vuitton

In the social media age, there are few artists whose work continues to resonate quite like Jean-Michel Basquiat’s. A New York City icon who went from homeless youth to the most famous artist of his generation within a decade, Basquiat’s paintings seemed to predict the future of how art and media would intersect.

A master of symbolism, from his early graffiti as part of street art duo SAMO, to the familiar self-branding of his crown motif – it seems fitting that Louis Vuitton would honour the artist’s legacy.  Thirty years after his tragic loss aged 28, a new retrospective at the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris has opened, bringing together 120 defining Basquiat works tracing his career from 1980-1988.

Spanning the four floors of the Frank Gehry designed space, works on display include Dos Cabezas (1982) and further collaborations with mentor and friend Andy Warhol, along with the Heads trilogy (1981-82) which will be shown together for the first time, and rarely seen paintings including Untitled (Boxer) (1982), Offensive Orange (1982) and Obnoxious Liberals (1982).

Exploring the artist’s political commentary and enduring influence on contemporary fashion and street culture, the exhibition will run alongside a retrospective of works from an equally compelling and prolific artist, Egon Schiele, at the Fondation Louis Vuitton until 14 January 2019.

Find out more on the Fondation Louis Vuitton website and explore some of our favourite words of wisdom from Jean-Michel Basquiat here.

Browse the gallery below to preview more of the works on display