How Did Jean Michel Basquiat Die?
Jean Michel Basquiat died on 12 August 1988 of a heroin overdose at his studio in New York. He was 27 years old.
His death at the same age as Hendrix, Joplin and Morrison placed him in the so called 27 club, and cut short the fastest rise modern art had seen.
The overdose
Basquiat was found at his studio on Great Jones Street in Manhattan, a building he rented from Andy Warhol. The cause was an overdose of heroin, a drug he had struggled with for years.
He had reportedly tried to get clean, even travelling to Hawaii to escape the pressures of the New York art world, but relapsed after returning.
The blow of losing Warhol
The death of Andy Warhol in 1987 hit Basquiat hard. The older artist had been a close friend and collaborator, and Basquiat grew more isolated and dependent on drugs after losing him.
In his final year he was producing less and withdrawing from friends, even as his prices kept climbing.
The afterlife of his fame
Basquiat rented his Great Jones Street studio from Warhol, and the building later carried a plaque marking it as the place where he worked and died. His story reached a wide audience again through a 1996 film by the painter Julian Schnabel.
His estate passed to his father, and demand for his work has only grown since, turning a man who once sold hand painted postcards on the street into one of the most valuable names in all of art.
What people ask about Basquiat's death
When did he die?
12 August 1988.
How?
A heroin overdose.
How old was he?
Twenty seven.
Where?
His studio on Great Jones Street, New York.
A meteor that burned out
Basquiat went from sleeping rough to international fame in about five years, and was gone by 27, which is why his story still feels like a warning as much as a triumph. Years later one of his paintings sold for over a hundred million dollars. His whole life is in the Basquiat guide.