High Museum of Art to Showcase Rare Jean-Michel Basquiat Works in Landmark 2027 Exhibition

Organized by the Princeton University Art Museum, the showcase reunites 11 ‘Blue Ribbon’ paintings unseen together in over 30 years

Summary

The High Museum of Art will present Basquiat the Blue Ribbon Paintings and the Art of Reproduction from February 19 through May 16 2027

Organized by the Princeton University Art Museum the exhibition brings together 11 Blue Ribbon canvases that have not been publicly shown together in over three decades

Curated by Jordana Moore Saggese the presentation spans over 50 works highlighting Basquiat's printmaking practice alongside pieces by Robert Rauschenberg and Robert Blackburn

The High Museum of Art and the Princeton University Art Museum and the Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat have announced Basquiat, the Blue Ribbon Paintings, and the Art of Reproduction, a landmark exhibition opening in Atlanta in Spring 2027. Curated by Jordana Moore Saggese, the presentation reframes Jean-Michel Basquiat’s legacy by examining his foundational engagement with printmaking, mechanical reproduction, and appropriation.

With more than 50 works on view, the exhibition is anchored by Basquiat’s 1984 Blue Ribbon paintings, reuniting a series of 11 mixed-media canvases that have not been publicly exhibited together in more than three decades. Named after their incorporation of the Pabst Blue Ribbon logo and bottlecap, the large-scale works fuse acrylic, oil stick, and screenprint to remix recurring iconography including crowned avatars and anatomical studies. The presentation frames these pieces as the conceptual culmination of Basquiat’s rigorous explorations across reproductive media.

The exhibition also gathers nearly all of Basquiat’s known print projects, charting his technical evolution from late-1970s Xerox postcards to lithographs, serigraphs, and silkscreens. His experimental process expanded after acquiring an in-studio color Xerox copier in 1983—one of the first artists in New York to do so. In addition, works by Robert Rauschenberg and pioneering Black printmaker Robert Blackburn are positioned in dialogue with Basquiat, illustrating how Blackburn’s print workshop and Rauschenberg’s layered collage methods informed his practice. The presentation is accompanied by a scholarly volume authored by Saggese, published by Princeton University Art Museum and distributed by Princeton University Press.

Basquiat, the Blue Ribbon Paintings, and the Art of Reproduction will be on view from February 19 through May 16, 2027, on the Second Level of the High’s Anne Cox Chambers Wing.