Basquiat Painting Still For Sale

MAASTRICHT, HOLLAND—Ahoy, FrontBurnervian art lovers. Last night I celebrated the close of the first day of TEFAF with 149 of my newest best friends in the international media at a dinner in the Fort Sint Pieter which is located about 50 feet above sea level  in the nosebleed section of Maastricht. All of the “critics” at my table were buzzing with reports of the day: one reporter witnessed a $500,000 earring sale at Graff Diamonds (the gal wore them out) while another didn’t get the price of a rare teapot transaction that was, according to her, “at least a couple of million as it was a one-of-a-kind.” (Whatever, if I had a million dollars, I’d buy you a teapot.) But before dinner I slinked back into the exposition to see if “Red Skull,” the battle scarred Basquiat was still up for sale. It was and this time I had my trusty little pocket camera. Above left is the complete painting; to the right,  a close up of the notch taken out when the painting fell. Somewhere in rock n’ roll hevean Jean-Michel is undoubtedly having a good laugh.  Meanwhile, in Maastricht, the show goes on.