Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump Auction History

1982: Painted by Jean-Michel Basquiat [4].

By 1998 (reported): Acquired by Peter Brant for about $1 million, per a New York Times–syndicated report citing market sources [6]. Brant (via The Brant Foundation) later loaned the work to major exhibitions, including the Fondation Beyeler’s 2010 Basquiat retrospective, confirming his ownership by that date [4], and the Brant Foundation’s 2019 New York show [5].

2020 (reported): Sold privately to Kenneth C. Griffin; Bloomberg reported a price of “more than $100 million,” while a NYT‑syndicated article cited about $115 million, unconfirmed [1][6]. The painting was promptly displayed at the Art Institute of Chicago [2] and later loaned to the Hirshhorn Museum for Basquiat × Banksy (2024–25), where it was labeled “Private collection” [3].

The painting’s 2020 private transaction reportedly above $100 million placed it among the most valuable Basquiats ever traded and signaled extraordinary demand for apex works even in the early months of the pandemic, when many blue-chip deals slowed or shifted off-market [1]. The lack of a public auction record for this specific canvas means price discovery relies on reported private figures and institutional exposure, but its valuation aligns with the top end of Basquiat’s market.

Key public benchmarks frame this context: the 1982 skull Untitled achieved $110.5 million at Sotheby’s in 2017, setting the artist’s auction record [7]; In This Case (1983) realized $93.1 million at Christie’s in 2021 [8]; and another 1982 Untitled brought $85 million at Phillips in 2022 [9]. These results confirm enduring collector appetite for monumental works from 1982–83, the period most closely associated with Basquiat’s breakthrough imagery and market apex. Against this backdrop, the reported Griffin acquisition places Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump in the same top tier by price and importance.

Institutional visibility further reinforces the work’s stature. After the 2020 purchase it was shown at the Art Institute of Chicago, providing immediate public access and curatorial endorsement [2]. Its subsequent loan to the Hirshhorn Museum for the 2024–25 exhibition Basquiat × Banksy extended that exposure and kept the picture in front of broad audiences, while crediting it simply to a “Private collection” [3]. For collectors and appraisers, this pattern—monumental scale, 1982 date, premier provenance and sustained museum loans—underpins why the painting is consistently positioned at the apex of Basquiat’s market, despite the absence of a public auction trail.