Basquiat, Music and Warhol

Everybody (or almost everyone) has heard of Andy Warhol, but not all students will be familiar with Jean-Michel Basquiat, a New York artist whose lively and colourful paintings are on display in Paris, either paired with music or in a display of works produced with Warhol. These two exhibitions are not only windows into his world – jazz and blues music, the 1980s, collaboration with Warhol – but they also offer a glimpse of African American culture that he depicts and comments on through his works. 

This sequence on his life, work and the exhibitions can be studied with A2+/ B1 students and / or as part of Shine Bright 3e File 6 Move on up or Shine Bright 1e File 8 African-American Art.

Vocabulary and structures

• describing paintings: lively, colourful, broken characters…
• giving an opinion on a piece of art: disruptive, unusual, eye-opening…
• talking about feelings: shocked, surprised, amazed, mesmerized…
• hypotheses /modals: may, must, be bound to / be likely to

Pragmatic skills

• writing an email
• carrying out an interview

Basquiat x Warhol à quatre mains
Fondation Louis Vuitton till 28 August 2023

Basquiat Soundtracks
Philharmonie de Paris till 30 July 2023