Jean-Michel Basquiat was born December 22,1960 in Brooklynto a Haitian father and a Puerto Rican mother.
He took an interest in art at an early age, drawing mostly cartoons and comic book characters. When he was 7, Basquiat was hit by a car. While in the hospital, his mother gave him a copy of Gray's Anatomy which would inspire many of his works.
After Basquiat's parents separated, he chose to live on the streets with his friends. He took up spray painting, and would strategically place his "art" (signed SAMO:same old shit) in Soho and the East Village. The Village Voice published an article about the SAMO pieces in 1978, this lead to a public showing in 1980.
The pace of his career steadily increased. He booked shows in Italy and Germany in the following years and was received warmly by critics. In 1983 his work was shown in the Whitney Gallery. He collaborated with Andy Warhol on a number of projects and the two developed a close friendship.
Basquiat died in 1988 of a drug overdose, a year after Warhol's death.