A piece from one of the most prolific artists of our generation is going under the hammer. Jean-Michel Basquiat’s El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile) is going to auction.

Originally painted in 1983, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile) is an acrylic and oilstick on canvas mounted on wooden supports, in three parts. On the back it is dated “THE NILE” 1983 Jean-Michel Basquiat’.

Painted when the artist was just 22 years-old, El Gran Espectaculo (The Nile) stands as one of the most important paintings in Jean-Michel Basquiat’s short but explosive career. It is one of three large-scale canvases executed in 1983 in which the artist ambitiously and audaciously proclaims that his central concern from this point on is to use painting to address issues of representation within the grand theater of world history. Thus, the present work becomes Basquiat’s quintessential history painting, as across its highly animated surface an intoxicating array of signs and signifiers unlocks the history of the Black diaspora. From Ancient Egypt to present day America, Basquiat’s employs his unique visual language to chart the Black experience as part of Western Civilization.

Via Christie’s