Jean-Michel Basquiat was a prominent American artist in the 1980s, known for his Neo-expressionist style and his early graffiti work. His art blended social commentary with abstraction, and increased in value after his death, with one piece selling for a record $110.5 million, becoming one of the most expensive paintings ever purchased.

Despite his rise to fame, Basquiat grew up facing many hardships, especially struggling with taking care of his divorced mother who was diagnosed with depression. Eventually, she was hospitalized for a worsening mental illness, and Jean seemed unable to cope. He was then in and out of institutions after running away from home, and took to graffiti art as a way of expressing his emotions, before moving to painting mediums. As his work became recognized and popular amongst the art community and the general public, Andy Warhol reached out to Jean and together they did several collaborative works. 

Through it all, Jean struggled with his own issues which drove him to problematic substance use that he was trying to heal from, but he would later die from a heroin overdose. As his legacy lives on and grows, many acknowledge Jean’s work as an instrument of his expression of mental illness and repressed trauma. His pieces are an inspiration to evoke the creative minds of those who also struggle with mental illness, and to motivate a movement of healing.