Assouline has released Basquiat: The World of Jean-Michel, a 348-page volume featuring more than 200 artworks and archival photographs from Jean-Michel Basquiat and priced at $1,400. The book launches as part of the publisher’s Ultimate Collection of large-format, hand-bound volumes.
The volume unfolds thematically across six chapters, including Basquiat’s depictions of heads, the imprint of New York City on his visual language, his use of silkscreens and multilayered surfaces, and the spiritual dimensions of his work. It draws on a decade of primary research conducted by Colour Themes, the independent art advisory and dealership co-founded by Philip Rebeiz and CJ Jones, which partnered with Assouline on the project.
The book assembles an expansive cast of contributors, including people who knew Basquiat personally and figures inspired by his legacy. Living contributors include artist George Condo, collector Peter Brant, and the musician Lenny Kravitz. Also included are writings from figures no longer living, among them the artist Keith Haring, cultural critic bell hooks, and the fashion designer Valentino Garavani. Also cited in the book is Swiss art dealer Bruno Bischofberger—Basquiat’s exclusive worldwide representative from 1982 until the artist’s death in 1988—who himself died last week.
In November 2025, an early 1981 canvas, Crowns (Peso Neto), made its first appearance on the auction block at Sotheby’s, selling for $48.3 million. This spring, Basquiat’s Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown) (1983) is heading to Sotheby’s with an estimate in excess of $45 million. His auction record—Untitled (1982), a skull painting—sold for $110.5 million at Sotheby’s in 2017, then the highest price ever paid at auction for an American artist’s work.
Works featured in the volume include Red Skull (1982), Untitled (Devil’s Head) (1987), and a group of 1984 silkscreen paintings that the book notes have rarely been studied in depth or displayed together. The book’s physical design also pays homage to Basquiat’s interest in unconventional materials: the clamshell case is crafted from a tactile, canvas-like material.
