Even this Basquiat masterpiece couldn’t stand U2’s music anymore…

It’s an accepted truism that the best pieces by the deceased street art/Pop master JEAN–MICHEL BASQUIAT are all in the hands of knowing private collectors at this point where they’re likely to stay for some time to come. That fact alone would normally be enough to make the early ’80s masterpiece painting “Untitled (Pecho/Oreja), 1983” auctioned yesterday at Sotheby’s for a healthy £5,000,000 ($9,962,699 USD) especially noteworthy—if it weren’t coming from the private collection of U2, that is. Originally purchased by the Irish band at a posthumous Basquiat show at Robert Miller Gallery in New York in 1989 (Samo OD’d in 1988) for a mere fraction of its current value, the huge painting hung as a backdrop in their Dublin studio and was present at the recording of their albums beginning with “Achtung Baby” until the band mysteriously decided to part ways with it this month. Believed to be a self-portrait created by the then-22-year-old art star in his basement studio beneath Anina Nosei’s gallery, the piece is a truly incredible painting by the late artist and a find of even rarer quality on the open market these days. Of course, it was picked up by an unnamed private European collector who obviously lives somewhere where money is still worth something. HAVE A LOOK: Read the rest of this entry »