The 10 Most Expensive Jean-Michel Basquiat Works Ever Sold at Auction

The years 1981 to 1984 were a brief period of intense artistic output that cemented Jean-Michel Basquiat’s place within the canon of art history. Initially working under the moniker SAMO, Basquiat, a friend of artist Keith Haring and actress Patti Astor, became an integral member of the social circle around the Mudd Club, the night club–gallery hybrid that defined downtown that decade.  In 1981, Mudd Club cofounder Diego Cortez put the 21-year-old Basquiat—then known mainl