The Chiostro del Bramante in Rome pays tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat (1960-1988) – an iconic and controversial figure in New York culture throughout the 1980s – in an extensive exhibition that includes some of his most important works from the Mugrabi Collection.

JEAN-MICHEL BASQUIAT. New York City

(Works from Mugrabi Collection)

The Chiostro del Bramante is a space that has no temporal, stylistic or cultural walls. Ranging from antique art to the latest and most forward-looking artistic expressions, it is one of the most important Italian and international museums. Its last exhibition, ‘Love, Contemporary Art Meets Amour’, attracted over 150,000 mainly very young visitors.

Now, from 24 March to 2 July 2017 30 July 2017, the Chiostro presents an impressive exhibition of the works of Jean-Michel Basquiat chosen from the Mugrabi Collection, one of the world’s largest collections of contemporary art. There are about 100 works in the Jean-Michel Basquiat Exhibition: acrylics and oils, drawings, important collaborative works with Andy Warhol, silkscreen prints and ceramics produced between 1981 and 1987, a period of time in which almost all of Basquiat’s turbulent and anguished life and career unfolded. Basquiat played an emblematic role in the New York art scene during the 1980s, and he quickly became one of the most popular artists of our times. Almost thirty years after his death in August 1988, his works and his artistic language continue to fascinate the public all over the world.

“Dad, one day I will become very, very famous”. Basquiat possessed this “urgency” to make a sign, a gesture, a color, this insuppressible need to draw, to paint, to be an artist. In the early part of his career it was the walls of New York City itself that were the “canvas” on which he recorded the distinctive and indelible features of his art, walls deliberately and artfully chosen in the proximity of the best known galleries.

Appearing under the pseudonym “SAMO”, Basquiat began with Street Art, which he soon abandoned, emerging at only 20 years of age as one of the most famous and fêted rising stars in the world of art. His works drew upon a wide variety of sources; his expressive means created an original and distinctive language that was exceptionally scathing of repressive power structures and racism. Proud of his African-American roots, Basquiat imbued his works with such dramatic character, such energy and such a firm denouncement of social inequality, that he would open the way to future generations of black artists.

Basquiat’s artistic output synthesized abstraction and neo-expressionist figurative art and his hectic and incessant quest produced works of earthy, tribal and devastating effect. He utilized painting but especially writing, a constant feature in his works, often its very fabric. Basquiat used and manipulated words in context as a graphic and significant sign – as lyrics to his own unique inner beat.

His inspirational muses were music – something he was never to relinquish and that was always a presence in his paintings – and ancient Greek and Roman and African art. Among his friends were Andy Warhol, with whom he had a particularly strong intellectual affinity, John Lurie, Arto Lindsay, Keith Haring and Madonna.

Basquiat died of an overdose at only 27 years of age – the seemingly inevitable outcome of a life split between genius and excess. Although Basquiat’s artistic activities had taken shape over a mere decade of time, in this brief period his frenetic energy brought him to produce a body of work characterized by a style and a spirit that have made him one of the great witnesses of his epoch.

Promoted by the Assessorato alla Crescita culturale – Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali, the exhibition is produced and organized by DART Chiostro del Bramante and Gruppo Arthemisia in collaboration with the Mugrabi Collection, and is curated by Gianni Mercurio, with the collaboration of Mirella Panepinto.

Exhibition produced and organized by

DART Chiostro del Bramante | Gruppo Arthemisia

In collaboration with

Roma Capitale – Assessorato alla crescita culturale Sovrintendenza Capitolina ai Beni Culturali

Exhibition curated by Gianni Mercurio

Technical Sponsor Trenitalia, Underscore, Maimeri

Media coverage by Sky Arte HD, Wanted in Rome

Exhibition design project KEY Comunicazione

Installation Tagi 2000

Coordinated image design Quattrozeroquattro

Graphic design for the exhibition Key Comunicazione

Educational project and guided visits Artable

Audioguide Antenna International

Catalogue Skira

Ticket Office GRT Rome

Information and reservations + 39 06 915 19 41 / http://bit.ly/ticketone-bebasquiat

Opening Times

From Monday to Friday 10.00 – 20.00

Saturday and Sunday 10.00 – 21.00

(the Ticket Office closes an hour before)

Special Opening Times

Sunday 16 April 10.00 – 21.00

Monday 17 April 10.00 – 20.00

Tuesday 25 April 10.00 – 20.00

Monday 1 May 10.00 – 20.00

Friday 2 June 10.00 – 20.00

Thursday 29 June 10.00 – 20.00

(the Ticket Office closes an hour before)

Ticket Prices

Ordinary € 13.00 (audioguide included)

Concessions € 11.00 (audioguide included)

65 years or over (with ID); children 11 to under 18 years; students under 26 years of age (with ID); members of the military forces or police; disabled persons; journalists (professionals, trainees, publicists) with national press card

Group Concession € 10.00

reservations required, min. 15 max. 25 pax

headsets required

Special Concession € 9.00 (audioguide included) registered guide when not accompanying a group

Children’s Concession € 5.00 (audioguide inclused) children from 4 to under 11

School Concession € 5.00 reservations required min. 15 max. 25 pax headsets required for secondary schools classes 1 and 2

Concession for Pre-school € 3.00

reservations required, min. 15 max. 25 pax

Open Ticket €15 (audioguide included)

Enables entrance to the exhibition without the need to reserve date and time.

Free admission (audioguide included)

Children under 4 years; persons accompanying groups (1 each group); teachers with pupils/students (2 each group); ICOM members (with membership card); one person accompanying a disabled visitor; Invitation Coupon holders; Arthemisia Group VIP Card holders; Amici del Chiostro del Bramante Card holders; accredited journalists (professionals, trainees, publicists) with national press card and in service, subject to request by the Editor addressed to press@arthemisia.it

SPECIAL 2×1 FRECCE TRENITALIA: holders of a Cartafreccia card who show the (digital or paper) train ticket with which they reached Rome (within three days from their visit) on paying the admission fee have the right to a complimentary ticket for an accompanying person, valid for immediate admission to the exhibition.

Reservation and advance sales surcharge:

Groups and individuals € 1.50 per person

Students € 1.00 per student

Guided Visits

(ticket fee excluded, reservations required min. 15 max. 25, headsets required)

Guided visit for schools € 80

Guided visit for adults € 100

Guided visit in a foreign language € 110

Educational Workshop

for children from 4 to 11 years

(ticket fee excluded, reservations required

min. 15 max. 25 pax)

Interactive Visit € 100,00

Headsets required

Groups € 30.00

Schools € 15.00