Place Jean-Michel Basquiat is a public square located in the 13th arrondissement of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), ma ...

. It is named after American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat, who emerged from the New York graffiti scene in the late 1970s before becoming the leading artist of the

neo-expressionism Neo-expressionism is a style of late modernist or early-postmodern painting and sculpture that emerged in the late 1970s. Neo-expressionists were sometimes called ''Transavantgarde'', '' Junge Wilde'' or ''Neue Wilden'' ('The new wild ones'; 'Ne ...

movement of the 1980s.

History

This road was created on land belonging to SNCF as part of the development of the ZAC

Paris Rive Gauche Paris Rive Gauche is a new neighbourhood in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, on the left bank of the Seine. The district is bordered by the Seine, the railway tracks of Gare d'Austerlitz and the Boulevard Périphérique. This 130 ha plot of lan ...

under the provisional name of BR/13 way. In June 2014, the

Council of Paris The Council of Paris (French: ''Conseil de Paris'') is the deliberative body responsible for governing Paris, the capital of France. It possesses both the powers of a municipal council (''conseil municipal'') and those of a departmental counci ...

approved a proposal from Jérôme Coumet, mayor of the 13th arrondissement, to name a square after Jean-Michel Basquiat. The site was under construction at the time. The 13th arrondissement already has a number of streets named after artists such as

Paul Klee Paul Klee (; 18 December 1879 – 29 June 1940) was a Swiss-born German artist. His highly individual style was influenced by movements in art that included expressionism, cubism, and surrealism. Klee was a natural draftsman who experimented ...

and Rue

Marcel Duchamp Henri-Robert-Marcel Duchamp (, , ; 28 July 1887 – 2 October 1968) was a French painter, sculptor, chess player, and writer whose work is associated with Cubism, Dada, and conceptual art. Duchamp is commonly regarded, along with Pablo Picasso ...

. "Basquiat is one of the biggest

contemporary artists This is a list of artists who create contemporary art, i.e., those whose peak of activity can be situated somewhere between the 1970s (the advent of postmodernism) and the present day. Artists on this list meet the following criteria: *The person ...

," Coumet told ''

Le Figaro ''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...

''. "He defended the cause of

African-Americans African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of enslav ...

in the US, and was also a lover of France. He was the artist who blazed the trail for street art, and art in public space." The 13th arrondissement had become a destination for street art particularly

Tower 13 Tower 13 (), also known as Paris Tower 13 () was a building used for an ephemeral street art exhibition in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, France. The conversion of the building into a street art exhibition began in September 2013 and ended in ...

, which Coumet invited "well known urban artists to create a collective open air museum" before its demolition in 2014. On September 29, 2018, Basquiat's family was present for the official inauguration by the mayor of Paris

Anne Hidalgo Ana María "Anne" Hidalgo Aleu (, ; born 1959) is a Spanish-French politician who has served as Mayor of Paris since 2014, the first woman to hold the office. She is a member of the Socialist Party. Hidalgo served as First Deputy Mayor of Paris ...

, the mayor of the 13th arrondissement Jérôme Coumet, designer

Agnès b. agnès b. (born Agnès Andrée Marguerite Troublé, 1941) is a French fashion designer known for her self-named brand, which includes fashion and film interests. Life and early career Agnès had mixed twins at 19 and she separated from their ...

, and deputy mayor Christophe Girard.

Shops and restaurants

* Paris 13, la guinguette EP7 *

Agnès b Agnes is a female given name derived from the Greek , meaning 'pure' or 'holy'. The name passed to Italian as Agnese, to French as Agnès, to Portuguese as Inês, and to Spanish as Inés. It is also written as Agness. The name is descended fr ...

References

{{Jean-Michel Basquiat Jean-Michel Basquiat 13th arrondissement of Paris Jean-Michel Basquiat