The top lots are coming so fast and furious now that the press departments don’t have enough places to release them:
In late 1981, Maryland collector Anita Reiner stepped into the New York basement of dealer Annina Nosei’s gallery and watched a 21-year-old street artist, Jean-Michel Basquiat, paint his self-portrait in the guise of a warrior king standing against a sunset-colored sky. Ms. Reiner bought it on the spot. On May 13, Ms. Reiner’s heirs plan to resell the untitled work at Christie’s for at least $20 million. Christie’s specialist Brett Gorvy said the painting ranks among the artist’s largest canvases, and it hasn’t been seen publicly until now.
