On show since January 2026, Headstrong – Basquiat on Paper, has been revealing a side of Jean-Michel Basquiat rarely seen in public; his intense focus on the human head. On display at Denmark’s Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, the exhibition brings together 45 works from 1981 to 1983, a moment when Basquiat’s output was at once experimental and fiercely personal.
During these years, the head became a recurring subject, shifting between anatomical study, symbolic abstraction, and caricature. Each drawing balances what is visible with what remains hidden, capturing both identity and emotion in forms that are at times confrontational, at times intimate. Viewed together, the works trace a spectrum of human expression, poised on the edge of private thought and outward appearance.
Installation photos from exhibition © Camilla Stephan / Louisiana Museum of Modern Art.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (Bust), 1984
Acrylic and collage on paper with tape, 76,2 x 57,1 cm.
Private Collection.
© Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New York.
Foto: Courtesy of Colour Themes.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled, 1982
Oilstick on paper, 75,9 x 56,5 cm.
Private Collection.
© Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New York.
Foto: Courtesy of Colour Themes.
Executed almost entirely in oil stick, the drawings are immediate and tactile, many created on the floor and kept by Basquiat himself. Freed from the textual and social references that populate his paintings, they offer insight into his process: a sustained exploration of power, race, and representation at a time when black artists were largely absent from the mainstream.
Curated by Anders Kold, the exhibition emphasises the restraint and nuance of this body of work, inviting viewers to follow Basquiat’s fascination with the head across scale, material and form.
Headstrong – Basquiat on Paper stands out in a series dedicated to works on paper, in which the Louisiana has previously presented Philip Guston, David Hockney, Nancy Spero, Vija Celmins, George Condo, Richard Prince and Ed Ruscha, among others.
This major solo presentation of Basquiat’s works on paper can be viewed at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art until 17 May, offering a final opportunity to encounter this rarely seen dimension of the artist’s practice.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Head, 1982-1983
Oilstick on paper, 108 x 76,5 cm.
Private Collection.
© Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New York.
Foto: Courtesy of Colour Themes.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled, 1983
Oilstick on paper, 108 x 77,3 cm.
Private Collection.
© Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New York.
Foto: Courtesy of Colour Themes.
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Untitled (1/2 Black, 1/2 White), 1982
Oil stick and gouache on paper, 76,2 x 55,9 cm.
Private Collection.
© Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat. Licensed by Artestar, New York.
Foto: Courtesy of Colour Themes.
Jean-Michel Basquiat at Crosby Street Studio, NY, 1983
© Roland Hagenberg
