22 April 2026
6.30 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Fasanenstrasse 25, 10719 Berlin

Author Doug Woodham in conversation with Daniel von Schacky, Managing Director and Partner at Grisebach

Admission is free – unfortunately, we cannot guarantee a seat.

The event will be held in English.

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s ascent from a young artist navigating downtown New York in the early 1980s to joining the twin pantheons of fine art and popular culture is a remarkable chapter in contemporary culture. His meteoric rise was not driven by artistic talent alone. It required a network of dealers, collectors, and tastemakers who transformed his art into cultural currency.

Drawing from his new book, Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Making of an Icon, former President of the Americas at Christie’s and former McKinsey & Company partner Doug Woodham takes you behind the scenes to reveal how artistic legacy and market forces combined to create a global icon.

Doug Woodham is Managing Partner of Art Fiduciary Advisors and the former President of the Americas at Christie’s. A Ph.D. economist and former McKinsey partner, he brings a rare combination of art-world experience and analytical rigor to the study of cultural icons. He is the author of Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Making of an Icon (Thames & Hudson, 2025) and Art Collecting Today (Allworth Press, 2017).