Hirshhorn Museum Pairs Basquiat and Banksy in Groundbreaking Exhibition
The show will also include 20 smaller Basquiat works and a screening of ‘Downtown 81.’
The Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum in Washington, D.C., is set to showcase a unique pairing of works by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Banksy. Opening later this month, the year-long exhibition will feature Basquiat’s 1982 painting “Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump,” reportedly purchased by hedge-fund manager Ken Griffin for over $100 million USD as per Artnet.
The work will be displayed alongside Banksy’s reimagined version, which includes stenciled police officers frisking Basquiat’s skeletal figure. Banksy originally created the piece outside London’s Barbican Centre to highlight the irony of a street artist being exhibited in a museum that typically erases graffiti.
Both artists have a history of using public spaces for their work, with Basquiat emerging from the graffiti duo SAMO and Banksy’s guerrilla art gaining global attention. They have also become auction powerhouses—Basquiat’s record-setting $110.5 million USD painting and Banksy’s “Love Is in the Bin” selling for $25.4 million USD.
The Hirshhorn show will also include 20 smaller Basquiat works and a screening of ‘Downtown 81,’ a semi-autobiographical film starring the artist. ‘Basquiat × Banksy’ will be on view from September 29, 2024, to October 26, 2025.
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden
Independence Ave SW &, 7th St.
SW, Washington, DC 20560
