1982 Basquiat Painting sold for $85 Million at Phillips

Phillips, a boutique auctioneer, sold Jean-Michel Basquiat's 16-foot-wide red and peach painting in New York on Wednesday for $85 million. Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa put the untitled 1982 painting for sale, and an Asian telephone auctioneer represented by a Taipei-based Phillips representative won it after a four-minute competition.

The sale did not break the record $110.5 million for a Basquiat, held by an untitled 1982 blue work that Mr. Maezawa won in 2017. However, the red example sold by Phillips turned a good profit for Mr. Maezawa, the tycoon behind e-commerce site Zozotown, who had purchased red Basquiat six years earlier for $57.3 million. This represents a 48% return for the collector.

The house prevented its bet and signed contracts with an outside investor prior to sale to commit to auction for an undisclosed sum if no one else is involved at the time, ensuring Basquiat will be sold.

Increasingly, year-old collectors are beginning to champion a fresh slate of new artists born long after Basquiat's death in 1988. These include Anna Weyant, whose 2021 "Buffet II" work sold to a telephone auctioneer in Hong Kong for $730,800 against a high estimate of $150,000. Another auction newcomer this season, María Berrío's 2013 "Burrow of the Yellow," also sold for $998,000 well above the $400,000-$600,000 estimate.