The Perez Art Museum Miami presents, “Basquiat: Figures, Signs, Symbols,” Opening June 25th

A record-breaking Basquiat painting is coming to Miami this summer, anchoring a must-see exhibition at Pérez Art Museum Miami (PAMM). On view from June 25, 2026 – June 6, 2027. This June, PAMM will present Basquiat: Figures, Signs, Symbols, a focused exhibition featuring 10 works by Jean-Michel Basquiat from the collection of Kenneth C. Griffin. At the center of the presentation is the artist’s iconic 1982 work Untitled — the $110.5 million painting that set auction records and reaffirmed Basquiat’s global cultural and market significance. Curated by PAMM Director Franklin Sirmans and Curator Megan Kincaid, the exhibition highlights Basquiat’s powerful visual language, spanning portraiture, symbolic systems, text, and expressive compositional structure.

The exhibition is timed alongside Miami’s heightened international visibility during major global events this summer, the exhibition positions Basquiat not only within market history, but within a broader cultural and intellectual context. As Sirmans notes, Miami’s diverse cultural landscape provides a resonant backdrop for Basquiat’s exploration of identity, migration, and hybridity—while Griffin emphasizes the opportunity to introduce new generations to one of the most influential artists of the 20th century.

In a brief yet remarkably prolific career, Basquiat emerged as a defining artist of the twentieth century and remains deeply relevant today. Shaped in part by a childhood spent visiting museums in New York City, Basquiat’s work draws on a wide range of references—from world history and Renaissance anatomical studies to broader art-historical traditions. His practice was equally informed by the clubs and vernacular culture of 1980s New York, where he engaged with musicians and artists across the emerging worlds of hip-hop, punk, fashion, and film.

Featuring 10 masterworks by Jean-Michel Basquiat from the Kenneth C. Griffin Collection, this exhibition is the largest presentation of the artist’s work to date in Florida. Bringing together the visual vocabulary of the time and his own heritage as the child of a Puerto Rican mother and Haitian father, Basquiat borrowed and remixed imagery from comic books, corporate logos, and graffiti. This exhibition explores his expansive artistic vocabulary, in which portraiture merges with coded language and a dynamic pictorial energy driven by color, line, and gesture.



For more information visit www.pamm.org

Follow the Pérez Art Museum Miami on Instagram @pamm