U2 Could Get $12 Million for Basquiat Painting

Posted on Jun 18th 2008 11:00AM by John D. Luerssen
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U2 plans to auction off a painting by Jean-Michel Basquiat, which has been hanging at their studio in Dublin for the past 20 years, at a Sotheby's Contemporary Art auction in London on July 1. The painting, purchased by the band in 1989 after being spotted at a New York gallery by bassist Adam Clayton, is expected to sell for as much as $11.7 million.

The 6-foot-square acrylic, oil stick and collage canvas -- which was created in 1982 when the artist was 22 years old -- isn't expected to rival the auction record for a Basquiat work, which was $14.6 million, reports Bloomberg. Basquiat -- who had an interest in music that he manifested through his art -- died in 1988 of a drug overdose.

Known as 'Untitled (Pecho/Oreja),' and featuring Basquiat's trademark primitive mask motif, Clayton found the piece at the Robert Miller Gallery and convinced his bandmates to collectively buy the painting.