The Studio Museum in Harlem Is Officially One of the Few US Museums to Own a Basquiat Painting

Ahead of its public reopening on November 15, the Studio Museum in Harlem showed off its new building to the press on Thursday, revealing a multitude of treasures that have entered its holdings since its closure in 2018—including the first Jean-Michel Basquiat painting to join the museum’s collection.The painting, titled Bayou (1984), was gifted to the New York museum in 2023 by the financier Joseph Perella and his wife Amy. Joseph was a mentor to Raymond J. McGuire, an investment ba