The great skull of 1983 “In This Case” by Jean-Michel Basquiat powered by Giancarlo Giammetti, the collector and co-founder with Valentino Garavani of the Valentino maison, was auctioned by Christie’s for over 93 million dollars, well beyond the initial estimate of 50 million.
Giammetti bought the painting in 2007 from New York gallerist Larry Gagosian and then hung it in the penthouse with a spectacular view of Central Park where it was photographed in 2013 by “Architectural Digest” magazine along with pieces from a vast collection including another Basquiat, and then works by Marc Rothko, Richard Prince, Anselm Kiefer, Picasso and David Hockney.
Previously “In This Case” was sold at Sotheby’s in November 2002 per $ 999,500: In nearly two decades, the price paid by Christie’s represents an incredible 90-fold increase in value.
And as evidence of collectors’ interest in Basquiat, Giammetti’s painting is not the only Basquiat at the center of the New York spring auctions: Sotheby’s will sell “Versus Medici”, which the enfant prodige of Street Art completed in 1982 same year as “Untitled”, another of three monumental skulls purchased in 2018 for 110.5 million dollars by the Japanese billionaire Yasuku Maezawa.
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