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Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown) Expected to Fetch Over $45 Million at Auction

The seminal 1983 work is part of a monumental 12-painting suite and will be offered at Sotheby's for the first time since 2013

By Rena Gross
Two men in aprons adjusting a large abstract painting with various words, numbers, and symbols on a white gallery wall.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown), (1983). Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby's

For the first time in over a decade, ‘80s art world superstar Jean-Michel Basquiat’s seminal painting Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown) will be coming before the auctioneer’s gavel as the headline attraction of Sotheby’s spring marquee Contemporary Art sales with an estimate in excess of $45 million. The masterpiece was part of a 12-canvas 1983 series that included Hollywood Africans, now a part of the Whitney Museum of American Art’s permanent collection.

Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown) is from the peak of Basquiat’s all-too-short career, when he had just become one of the youngest artists ever to participate in the Whitney Biennial. It features his signature graffiti-inspired scrawl, confronting the viewer with jarringly ordinary societal dreads such as “ASBESTOS,” “RADIUM,” and “CIGAR” alongside references to law enforcement and the ironies of high art. It has a storied exhibition past, having been featured everywhere from Gagosian to Fondation Beyeler in Riehen, to a having a central role in the landmark “Signs: Connecting Past and Future,” display at Seoul’s Dongdaemun Design Plaza Museum.

Colorful abstract painting with text and symbols on a gallery wall, featuring a black background with various phrases and drawings.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown), (1983). Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby’s
Colorful abstract graffiti-style painting with words, symbols, and a central face, resembling street art or pop art influences.
Jean-Michel Basquiat, Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown), (1983). Photo: Courtesy of Sotheby’s

“Intense and electrifying, Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Museum Security (Broadway Meltdown) embodies the qualities that define the artist at his very best: executed at the height of his career, on an impressive scale, and charged with the imagery and language that made his work instantly recognizable,” says Grégoire Billaut, Sotheby’s contemporary art chairman. The canvas last sold for around $14 million at Christie’s in its 2013 offering, and the threefold price increase reflects both the rarity and importance of Museum Security.

Person smiling at a party wearing a jacket, surrounded by other people in a dimly lit environment.
Jean-Michel Basquiat dancing at the Mudd Club, 1979. Photo: Courtesy of Nicholas Taylor

The artistic masterwork will be on view at Sotheby’s Marcel Breuer building headquarters in New York City from March 10 through March 15, and then will travel to a selection of Sotheby’s galleries around the world before returning for the evening auction in May.