''Equals Pi'' is a painting created by American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1982. The painting was published in '' GQ'' magazine in 1983 and '' W'' magazine in 2018.

History

''Equals Pi'' was executed by Jean-Michel Basquiat in 1982, which is considered his most coveted year. The

robin egg blue Robin egg blue, also called eggshell blue, is a shade of cyan (bluish-green color), approximating the shade of the eggs laid by the American robin. The first recorded use of ''robin egg blue'' as a color name in English was in 1873. Variatio ...

painting contains Basquiat's signature crown motif and a head alongside his characteristic scrawled text with phrases such as "AMORITE," "TEN YEN" and "DUNCE." The title refers to the mathematical equations incorporated on the right side of the work. The cone refers to the pointed

dunce caps Dunce is a mild insult in English meaning "a person who is slow at learning or stupid". The etymology given by Richard Stanyhurst is that the word is derived from the name of the Scottish Scholastic theologian and philosopher John Duns Scotus. ...

depicted in the work. The painting was acquired in 1982 by Anne Dayton, who was the advertising manager of ''

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notably ...

'' magazine. She purchase it for $7,000 from Basquiat's exhibition at the

Fun Gallery The Fun Gallery was an art gallery founded by Patti Astor and Bill Stelling in 1981. The Fun Gallery had a cultural impact until it closed in 1985. As the first art gallery in Manhattan's East Village, it exposed New York to the talents of stree ...

in the East Village. At the time the painting was called ''Still Pi'', however, when the work appeared in the March 1983 issue of '' GQ'' magazine, it was titled ''Knowledge of the Cone'', which is written on the top of the painting. According to reports in August 2021, the luxury jewelry brand Tiffany & Co. had recently acquired the painting privately from the Sabbadini family, for a price in the range of $15 million to $20 million. The painting, which is the brand's signature blue color, is displayed in the Tiffany & Co. flagship store on

Fifth Avenue Fifth Avenue is a major and prominent thoroughfare in the borough of Manhattan in New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 populatio ...

in New York City. Although initial reports claimed that the painting was never seen before, it was previously offered at auction twice and had appeared in magazines. The work was first offered at a

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...

sale in London in June 1990, where it went unsold. In December 1996, the Sabbadinis, a Milan-based clan behind the eponymous jewelry house, purchased it during a Sotheby's London auction for $253,000. Mother and daughter Stefania and Micól Sabbadini posed in front of the painting in their living room for a 2018 feature in ''W'' magazine. Stephen Torton, a former assistant of Basquiat’s posted an Instagram statement saying, “I designed and built stretchers, painted backgrounds, glued drawings down on canvas, chauffeured, traveled extensively, spoke freely about many topics and worked endless hours side by side in silence. The idea that this blue background, which I mixed and applied was in any way related to

Tiffany Blue Tiffany Blue is the colloquial name for the light medium robin egg blue color associated with Tiffany & Co., the New York City jewelry company created by Charles Tiffany and John Young in 1837. The color was used on the cover of Tiffany's ''Blu ...

is so absurd that at first I chose not to comment. But this very perverse appropriation of the artist’s inspiration is too much.”

References

{{Jean-Michel Basquiat 1982 paintings Paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat

History

See also

References