Basquiat’s Italian Detour: When Eight Giant Canvases Nearly Vanished
In 1982, Jean-Michel Basquiat, then just 21, landed in Modena, Italy, and painted eight enormous canvases for a show that never happened. These works, now called the Modena Paintings, were scattered across private collections worldwide and remained separated for decades.
The story behind these paintings is a mix of ambition, artistic pressure, and gallery politics. Basquiat was given a cavernous warehouse and a tight deadline—just days to fill vast, pre-stretched canvases left behind by another artist. The resulting pieces marked a leap in scale and intensity, with bold colors and sweeping gestures that hinted at Abstract Expressionism but kept Basquiat’s signature energy.
The exhibition’s collapse came down to a dispute between dealers over credit and profit, sending the paintings on divergent paths. Now, for the first time, all eight are reunited in Switzerland, offering a rare, panoramic glimpse into a pivotal—almost forgotten—moment in Basquiat’s meteoric rise. Sometimes, the art that almost disappears is what changes the story.
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