Jean-Michel Basquiat: Remix: Matisse, Picasso, Twombly

How Basquiat transformed his sources and brought a raw, fresh energy to the art of painting

Jean-Michel Basquiat's (1960–88) formal vocabulary was inspired by the precedents of Picasso, Matisse and Twombly; he drew overtly on their fondness for primary colors, fragmented subjects, disturbing faces, dissonant colors and forms, and crudely crafted compositions or objects. Like them, he eschewed virtuosity and appealed instead to naivety and ungainliness, to restore raw energy to art.

Basquiat R...