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Case file s308 · Literature and art · 1988
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1988
Jean-Michel Basquiat: Jean-Michel Basquiat passport (cropped)
Jean-Michel Basquiat. Unknown author. Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Died
12 August 1988
Place
New York · United States
Field
painter · Visual art and architecture on the timeline
Legal tradition
New York law · Common law
Historical event
1980s New York art boom
Religion
Jean-Michel Basquiat: Catholic (recorded as African-American Catholics on Wikipedia)
Literature and artDied without a willPostwarNorth AmericaUnited States

Basquiat died at 27; his estate shut its authentication board, and the FBI later seized 25 fake Basquiats from a museum

Basquiat died of an accidental heroin overdose at his home on Great Jones Street. His estate was controlled by his father, Gérard Basquiat. No will has been reported†. Gérard ran a committee that authenticated works from 1994 to 2012 and reviewed more than 2,000, mostly drawings. It announced in January 2012 that it would close and stopped in September 2012; legal commentators linked the closure to the cost and risk of lawsuits. Gérard died in 2013; the estate is now run by Basquiat's sisters, Jeanine Heriveaux and Lisane Basquiat. In May 2017 a 1982 skull painting sold for $110.5 million to Yusaku Maezawa. In 2022 the Orlando Museum of Art showed works said to have been found in a storage locker. The FBI seized them in June 2022. The museum fired its director, Aaron De Groft, and was put on probation by the American Alliance of Museums. Los Angeles auctioneer Michael Barzman pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI and admitted that "most of the featured works" were created by him and an accomplice. In August 2023 he was sentenced to probation, 500 hours of community service and a $500 fine. De Groft still says the paintings are authentic.

What the law took from it

An artist's estate without an authentication body leaves the market to forgers and courts.

Sources
  1. itsartlaw.orgPress
  2. basquiat.comPress
  3. Artnet NewsPress
  4. The Art NewspaperPress
  5. Wikipedia (English)Encyclopedia

Cite as: celebrity.estate, “Basquiat died at 27; his estate shut its authentication board, and the FBI later seized 25 fake Basquiats from a museum,” story s308, https://www.celebrity.estate/basquiat-1988, updated 30 October 2026.

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Where this case sits

Literature and artDied without a willPostwarNorth AmericaCommon lawUnited States