A painting by the deceased American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat was sold at an auction in New York city for a record amount of $110.5 million (estimated to be around £85.4 million). This work was sold at almost double the price of Basquiat's painting which previously held the title of being his most expensive artwork. Jean-Michel Baquiat was just 21-years-old when he created this fine art masterpiece.
Details about the buyer; Yusaku Maezawa
The painting that is untitled was bought by 41-year-old Yusaku Maezawa who is a Japanese entrepreneur and a contemporary art collector as well as the founder of Contemporary Art Foundation based in Tokyo that aims at supporting and developing the activities of young artists and musicians.
Yusaku Maezawa, who is also the creator of "Zozotown" that is a large online fashion mall in Japan, plans to showcase this painting in a contemporary art museum in his hometown Japanese city of Chiba.
Last year in 2016, Maezawa bought another untitled painting of a horned devil by Jean-Michel Basquiat at an auction for a huge amount of $57.3 million.
The historical sale created many records
The sale which has created many records also became historical because it is the most expensive work by any black artist and the first painting since 1980 to fetch the amount of $100 million. This particular painting of a skull by the late 27-year-old Jean-Michel Basquiat also became the costliest art-work by any American fine artist.
The painting is in mixed-media as oil stick, spray and acrylic paints were used to create a skull-like-face.
Details about the auction at Sotheby's in New York
The 10-minute-long bidding for this art-work took place at Sotheby's, which is known to be one of the largest brokers of fine and decorative art, real estate, jewellery and collectibles around the world.
The painting was sold to the Japanese entrepreneur via telephone and he later took to his Instagram account to express his happiness over winning the artwork.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, who died of a heroin overdose, initially sold drawings for a mere $50 and this "skull" painting of his that he created in 1982 ranks at number six at the list of most expensive artwork ever that is sold at auction.
Only ten other paintings have reached the mark of $100 million.
Basquiat was born on December 22nd, 1960 in in New York, USA. And just over a period of seven years, he progressed from being just a graffiti artist to a popular art-collector's favourite painter.
