Dos Cabezas
ArtistJean-Michel Basquiat
Year1982
MovementNeo-expressionism
Dimensions151.8 cm × 154 cm (59.75 in × 60.5 in)

Dos Cabezas ([ˈdos kaˈβesas], "two heads") is a painting created by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1982. The double portrait resulted from Basquiat's first formal meeting with his idol, American pop artist Andy Warhol.

History

Basquiat first met Andy Warhol when he sold him a postcard in 1979.[1] Later, when Basquiat was selling painted sweatshirts, he went to the Factory and Warhol purchased some. "I just wanted to meet him, he was an art hero of mine," Basquiat recalled.[2] Bruno Bischofberger became Basquiat's art dealer and organized a one-man show in his Zurich gallery in September 1982.[3] Bischofberger, who also represented Warhol, arranged a lunch meeting between the two artists on October 4, 1982.[4] Warhol documented the meeting in a diary entry, which was posthumously published in The Andy Warhol Diaries (1989):

Down to meet Bruno Bischofberger (cab $7.50). He brought Jean-Michel Basquiat with him. He's the kid who used the name "Samo" when he used to sit on the sidewalk in Greenwich Village and paint T-shirts, and I'd give him $10 here and there…He was just one of those kids who drove me crazy. He's black but some people say he's Puerto Rican so I don't know. And then Bruno discovered him and now he’s on Easy Street. He's got a great loft on Christie Street. He was a middle-class Brooklyn kid—I mean, he went to college and things—and he was trying to be like that, painting in the Greenwich Village. And so had lunch for them and then I took a Polaroid and he went home and within two hours a painting was back, still wet, of him and me together. And I mean, just getting to Christie Street must have taken an hour. He told me his assistant painted it.[5]

Dos Cabezas, meaning "two heads" in Spanish, is based on the self-portrait Warhol took with Basquiat.[6] The artwork ignited a close friendship between them which led to a collaboration on numerous paintings.[6] Warhol used a Polaroid he took of Basquiat to create the silkscreen portrait Jean-Michel Basquiat (1982) using his piss painting technique.[7] Although Basquiat and Warhol created several portraits of each other in the following years, Dos Cabezas is their only joint portrait. It sold for $7 million at Christie's post-war and contemporary evening sale in November 2010.[8]

Exhibitions

Dos Cabezas has been exhibited at the following art institutions:

See also

References

  1. ^ Brumfitt, Stuart (September 19, 2017). "New York Inspiration | Tales from Teen Basquiat's Best Friend". Amuse. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
  2. ^ The New York Times Guide to the Arts of the 20th Century: 1900-1929. Taylor & Francis. 2002. p. 2547. ISBN 978-1-57958-290-6.
  3. ^ Hoban, Phoebe (1998). Basquiat: A Quick Killing in Art. Internet Archive. New York : Viking. p. 134. ISBN 978-0-670-85477-6.
  4. ^ Faughnan, Ally (May 28, 2019). "The best, worst, and weirdest parts of Warhol and Basquiat's friendship". Dazed. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
  5. ^ Warhol, Andy; Hackett, Pat (1989). The Andy Warhol diaries. The Archive of Contemporary Music. New York, NY : Warner Books. p. 462. ISBN 978-0-446-51426-2.
  6. ^ a b "Warhol and Basquiat". Phillips. July 13, 2020. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
  7. ^ McGreevy, Nora (October 6, 2021). "Why Andy Warhol Peed on This Portrait of Jean-Michel Basquiat". Smithsonian Magazine. Archived from the original on 2021-10-06. Retrieved 2021-10-07.
  8. ^ Vogel, Carol (November 10, 2010). "Lichtenstein Tops Warhol in Auction at Christie's". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  9. ^ a b "Jean-Michel Basquiat, Dos Cabezas". Christie's. Retrieved 2020-10-04.
  10. ^ "Boom for Real: Basquiat comes to London". Christie's. October 1, 2017. Retrieved 2020-10-03.
  11. ^ Wolf, Michael (April 12, 2019). "Warhol at the Whitney, Basquiat at the Brant and Their Collaboration". Archived from the original on 2019-04-16. Retrieved 2021-04-05.
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