What I learned from Basquiat about art, creativity and intuition

How is this art? My son asked, as he saw a trailer about the Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibition “Boom for real” in Frankfurt. From his view of a teenager, he surely had a point.

So I was very eager to find out how it is art. Why Jean-Michel Basqiuat became one of the most important artists of the 20th Century at the age of 19?

This what was revealed to us by an amazing art historian Lauren F. as she guided us through the Schirn exhibition of Basquitas masterpieses, books, letters and memorabilia:

1. Basquiat believed in the mission of the art not just to provide the sense of beauty but to challenge the status quo and to hold a real, frank, often very unpleasant mirror to the society by addressing the topics of rasism, prejudice, police violence…

2. Basquiat challenged the artistic establishment by becoming a famous artist despite his young age, race and absence of any formal education (he didn’t even have a high school diploma and went his own way)

3. Basquiat  possessed an incredible power of believing in himself  from am early age – “Why wait for others to give you a crown, if you can give yourself one”- and chose a crown for his symbol

4. There are surely many more captivating facts about him but these three fascinated me the most

For me, it is a great example of a courageous genius, with a hugely developed intuition to know himself and sense the pulse of time so accurately. It inspired me to write this article, to give myself a crown of being good enough, to be more spontaneous, creative and playful (at least for a couple of moments ).. and challenge my own status quo of what could the better use of my time than writing this…

I wish, we all could be a little bit more of an artist, a little bit more creative, and a little bit more daring in our daily lives by:

1. feeling what needs to be changed and going for it

2. giving ourselves a crown (or at least be more kind and compassionate to ourselves) instead of waiting for others to grant us a permission or give an approval

3. and allow the power of our intuition to inspire, guide and propel us forward.