Both prolific, both revolutionary, both dead at 28: Schiele and Basquiat, working at opposite ends of the C20th, single handily changed the course of art history.
Both artists sought to obliterate tradition, expectation and historical representations of human identity. Both sought to express the distress of human existence with aggressive distortions of the body. For both artists, line became the symbolic border between life and death and loss and trauma.
To mark the centenary of Schiele’s death and the 30th anniversary of Basquiat’s death, the Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, presents a major comparative showcase of their work. With many pieces never seen before in Europe, this artistic extravaganza (2 Oct 18 – 14 Jan 19) certainly merits a trip to Paris.
