Jean-Michel Basquiat - Versus Midici

Jean Michel Basquiat - "Versus Medici"
High-quality museum-grade art print on heavy paper.
Authorization from the Jean-Michel Basquiat Estate.
Sold with its Certificate of Authenticity (COA).

Dimensions: 70 x 50 cm
Condition: Perfect condition.
Careful shipping and protection with insurance and signature on delivery.

This poster reprises Versus Medici, a major work created by Jean-Michel Basquiat in October 1982, when the artist was only 22 years old. The original work, composed of three joined canvases, measures about 214 × 138 cm.

The title itself constitutes a true artistic statement. The Medici family, the great Florentine dynasty of bankers and patrons, symbolizes here the power that helped shape the history of Western art and to consecrate the great masters of the Renaissance.

Basquiat knew this history particularly well. After an initial stay in Italy in 1981, he became intensely interested in the Renaissance and in artists such as Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo. In Versus Medici, he borrows some of their codes — notably the anatomical study of the body and even the three-panel construction, which evokes ancient altarpieces — to transform them into his own pictorial language.

But Basquiat does not simply seek to pay homage to the old masters. He places himself symbolically opposite them. American artist of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent, he was especially sensitive to the underrepresentation of Black artists in museums and in the traditional narrative of art history. Versus Medici is a claim to his own place within this history and a confrontation with the systems of power and artistic legitimization.

At the center appears a powerful human figure, almost regal, accompanied by one of Basquiat's most famous symbols: the triple-point crown. The enigmatic inscription “AOPKHESKS,” repeated in the composition, further reinforces this dimension. Sotheby’s offers two possible interpretations: a reference to a Hellenized form of the name of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep, or a reference to deification, i.e., the elevation of a human being to divine status. This interpretation remains, however, one reading of the work and not a definite translation of the term.

Versus Medici thus appears as a confrontation between two worlds: the Renaissance and 1980s New York, the old masters and a new generation, tradition and Basquiat’s creative freedom. A work in which the artist asserts with extraordinary confidence his place in the history of art.

The importance of the original work is considerable: exhibited in several major international exhibitions, it was sold at Sotheby’s in New York in May 2021 for $50.82 million. Today it is regarded as a major figure in the art market alongside Andy Warhol and Keith Haring."