Fans of Jean-Michel Basquiat will have a chance to get up close and personal with some of his work at Atlanta’s High Museum of Art in 2027. That’s because it’ll be the home of the brand-new exhibition, “Basquiat, the Blue Ribbon Paintings, and the Art of Reproduction”–and we’ve got an early look at some of the pieces that will be on display.
The exhibit, organized by the Princeton University Art Museum, will highlight a lesser-known side of Basquiat’s groundbreaking artwork: printmaking.
Set to run from Feb. 19 to May 16, 2027, the exhibit includes more than 50 works and centers on the famed artist’s 1984 “Blue Ribbon” paintings – a series of 11 works that have not been publicly exhibited together in more than three decades. The exhibition will bring together nearly all of his known printed projects and will be accompanied by an illustrated hardcover volume published by the Princeton University Art Museum.
Related: Things You Should Know About Artist Jean-Michel Basquiat
Speaking to the pieces making their way to Atlanta, Michael Rooks, the High Museum’s Wieland Family senior curator of modern and contemporary art, discussed what makes this collection unique.
“This exhibition invites us to deepen an appreciation of one of the most venerated artists of the last 50 years. The ‘Blue Ribbon’ paintings seem more solemn than the dynamic, colorful paintings we know best from Basquiat’s work, perhaps because of their limited color palette.”
Rooks continued: “Each painting is presided over by a printed image of his crowned avatar of marginalized Black heroes, who guides us through the complex structure of the artworks. This exhibition will change the way you think about Basquiat and his trailblazing role in the contemporary art scene of the 1980s.”
If you can’t make it to the ATL to see these beauties, don’t worry. You’ll have another opportunity to learn about Basquiat, his life, and artistic journey once his official documentary hits Netflix later this year. After debuting at Tribeca Festival in June 2026, the highly anticipated project found a home with the major streamer and is the first documentary approved by the artist’s estate.
“Jean-Michel Basquiat’s legacy is undeniable,” directors Quinn Whitney Wilson and Viridiana Lieberman said at the time. “We see his art everywhere, from the most historical museums to the clothing moving through the streets. Yet the myth and the man are not one and the same, and across the decades, ‘Basquiat’ has become a moniker that doesn’t capture the entire person. His origins have hardened into an ever-growing mythology, and it’s long overdue to meet him in all the multifaceted and powerful ways he moved through this world.”
So, make sure you check out the doc and the exciting exhibition when it opens in Georgia in February 2027. Keep reading for a look at some of the work that will be on display.
