Julian Schnabel

Julian Schnabel is an artist committed to forging his own path in contemporary art history, first as a painter, then as filmmaker, and always as a champion for individual creativity. Schnabel was born in 1951 in Brooklyn, New York. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s and 1980s, becoming a central figure in the Neo-Expressionist movement, which marked a departure from the Minimalist and conceptual art that had dominated the previous decade.

Schnabel studied at the University of Houston and upon graduation, attended the Independent Study Program at the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York between 1973 and 1975. Returning to Houston in 1975, Schnabel had his first solo show in 1979 and participated at the Venice Biennale in 1980 alongside Anselm Kiefer and Georg Baselitz. Schnabel became the youngest artist to participate in the 1981 exhibition A New Spirit in Painting at London’s Royal Academy of Arts, where his ‘plate paintings’ — large-scale paintings set on broken ceramic plates — first made headlines in the art world. Today, the plate paintings are considered Schnabel’s most meaningful contribution to the history of art in the late 20th century.

In addition to his visual art, Schnabel has made significant contributions to the world of film. His directorial debut, Basquiat (1996), is a biopic about the life of artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. His filmography also includes The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007), which earned him the Best Director award at the 2007 Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award for Best Director nomination, and At Eternity’s Gate (2018), a biographical drama life depicting the final years of Vincent van Gogh.

A lifelong admirer of Pablo Picasso, Schnabel channels the master by challenging notions of the neatly defined career-arc and has evolved his body of work into a groundbreaking force in visual expression. Despite his famously diverse career, Schnabel maintains his identity as a painter first and foremost, consistently innovating to build universes and visual modes that challenge his way of viewing the painted surface.

In 2017, Christie’s New York sold an oil and cow hide on velvet by Julian Schnabel, Ethnic Type #14 (1984), for US$1,452,500, setting a world auction record for the artist.