by Tom Gurney
Tom Gurney BSc (Hons) is an art history expert with over 20 years experience
Published on June 19, 2020 / Updated on October 11, 2026
Email: tomgurney1@gmail.com / Phone: +44 7429 011000
King Alphonso by Jean-Michel Basquiat: A Drawing in the Daros Suite: introduction
King Alphonso belongs to Jean-Michel Basquiat's Daros Suite, a group of thirty-two drawings dated 1982–83. The Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris lists it by name within that suite and identifies the group as works on paper. The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art's research guide separately records King Alphonso among the sheets exhibited from a private collection. These records make its basic identity clear: it is a drawing within a named group, rather than a canvas painting or a stand-alone image that can be described without reference to the suite.[1][2]
The Paris checklist gives each sheet in the suite as 57 × 76.5 cm and describes the group materials as acrylic, oil pastel, pastel, pencil, charcoal and pen on paper. The Schnitzer guide labels King Alphonso individually, while repeating the suite description: acrylic, oil crayon, pastel, colour crayon, charcoal and pencil. The lists differ in cataloguing vocabulary. Because the museum repeats the same medium line for the suite's individual entries, that line should not be treated as an independent examination proving every material is present on this one sheet.[1][2]
This work in Basquiat’s career
Contents
- A crown and a named head
- A sheet within thirty-two
- What the title does not prove
- Where to inspect the work
A crown and a named head
A reproduced view of the sheet shows a broad three-point crown above a compact head, with energetic lines extending to either side and the title written along the lower portion of the paper. A small reproduction is not sufficient to settle every mark, colour, inscription or condition detail. The museum object records remain the stronger anchors for date and medium; a high-resolution institutional image would support closer visual description.[1][2]
The crown is hard to miss, yet it does not provide an automatic translation of the title. It may suggest status or distinction, and the combination of a royal name with a crowned figure invites a comparison with other Basquiat works about authority and recognition. It does not establish which historical Alphonso, if any, Basquiat meant. The name has appeared in different royal histories; identifying one specific ruler requires more than a familiar title and a shape above a head. The crowns guide compares documented uses of the sign without assigning it one meaning everywhere.[1][3]
The image also resists a simple account of a serene ruler. The head is constructed from coloured areas and dark marks, while finer lines and small forms spread around it. The title below acts as part of the sheet's visual field, not just a museum label outside it. At this reproduction size, it is safer to describe that relationship than to claim that a particular facial feature represents a specific culture, music genre or psychological state. Basquiat's work often combines words, heads and signs, but each object needs its own evidence.[1][2]
A sheet within thirty-two
The Daros Suite is not a single thirty-two-part canvas. It is a set of named sheets on paper. The Paris checklist includes King Alphonso alongside works such as Bishop, Monticello, 50¢ Piece and Titian. Their juxtaposition suggests a field of historical names, institutions, commerce and art history, but the list alone does not reveal the order in which Basquiat made them or the precise relationship among all images. A reader should compare individual sheets before asserting a narrative sequence.[1]
The Schnitzer guide's exhibition listing gives another useful fact: the suite has been shown and described as a group, with a shared private-collection loan number. Such an exhibition record can establish that a named sheet was presented with others in the suite. It cannot, on its own, resolve whether a similar title used elsewhere denotes another object. Basquiat's repeated and sometimes generic titles make support, dimensions, suite membership and catalogue record important parts of identification.[2]
The guide specifies that the sheets were on view from 7 July to 12 December 2021 and prints the individual label King Alphonso from The Daros Suite, 1982–1983. It attaches the suite's private-collection loan range, L2021:83.6.1–32, to that label. That evidence gives a concrete institutional appearance of the drawing, rather than merely a name in an earlier checklist. It does not reveal where the sheet hangs now, whether all thirty-two stayed together after the loan, or a complete provenance before the exhibition.[2]
The museum's longer text beside 50 cent Piece reads the suite across art history, the art market, politics and the status of Black historical figures. It names François Duvalier, Marcus Garvey, Sugar Ray Robinson and Malcolm X as figures highlighted across the thirty-two drawings. That is a reading of the group. The names should not be placed in King Alphonso's pictured field unless an image or label for this sheet shows them. As a comparison, 50 cent Piece and Monticello introduce monetary and national imagery through their own titles, while Titian invokes a named European painter. King Alphonso contributes royal language, but the suite's range makes a single shared translation implausible.[1][2]
The drawings guide explores how Basquiat used paper, notebooks and drawn marks in other media. King Alphonso is an independent work on paper in that discussion. A line that looks quick need not be dismissed as a preliminary sketch, and a boldly coloured area does not convert the sheet into a canvas painting. The suite format places it in a documented drawing practice while leaving room to consider the sheet as a finished object.[1][2]
What the title does not prove
A crown can be made into a prediction of Basquiat's fame or a supposed sign of his friendship with Andy Warhol. Neither claim follows from the sheet's documented title and medium. Warhol and Basquiat did later collaborate, but a resemblance between a crown and the letter “W” is not evidence that this drawing refers to him. The Warhol and Basquiat guide treats that relationship through recorded works and dates.[1][4]
The name should likewise not be used to attach a specific African royal object or a “reggae” identity to the face. Historical crowns and ceremonial objects have their own makers and contexts; they are meaningful comparisons only when their identities and Basquiat's access to them can be shown. Here the secure facts are the suite, date range, paper support, group dimensions and the visible crowned head. Interpretation can begin there without claiming a direct source that the available records do not establish.[1][2][3]
For contrast, Charles the First is a painting associated with Charlie Parker, while King Alphonso is a Daros Suite sheet. Both contain royal language, but their subjects, materials and supporting records differ. The paintings guide and artist guide offer routes through the wider work; this page retains the drawing's own identity rather than treating its crown as a substitute for it.[1][3]
Where to inspect the work
The Paris exhibition checklist and Jordan Schnitzer Museum research guide document its suite membership and materials. They are the starting points for checking the name and object. An online view of Basquiat's protected drawing requires separate reproduction rights to be reused elsewhere. The institutional records let readers examine the evidence at its source.[2][5]
Explore the Basquiat guide
Basquiat artworks in this guide
| Name | Date | Medium |
|---|---|---|
| Bird on Money | 1981 | Acrylic and oil on canvas |
| Boy and Dog in a Johnnypump | 1982 | Acrylic, oil stick and spray paint on canvas |
| Charles the First | 1982 | Acrylic and oil pastel on three canvas panels |
| Defacement (The Death of Michael Stewart) | 1983 | Acrylic and marker on wall-derived support (support records differ) |
| Dos Cabezas | 1982 | Acrylic and oilstick on canvas with wood supports |
| Dustheads | 1982 | Acrylic, oilstick, spray enamel and metallic paint on canvas |
| Eyes and Eggs | 1983 | Acrylic, oilstick and paper collage on hinged cotton drop cloth |
| Flexible | 1984 | Acrylic and oilstick on wood |
| God, Law | 1981 | Drawing; precise materials not established |
| Hollywood Africans | 1983 | Acrylic and oil stick on canvas |
| Horn Players | 1983 | Acrylic and oil stick on three canvas panels mounted on wood |
| In Italian | 1983 | Acrylic, oil stick and marker on canvas mounted on wood |
| Irony of a Negro Policeman | 1981 | Acrylic and oilstick on wood |
| King Alphonso | 1982–83 | Works on paper; suite materials vary by record |
| Obnoxious Liberals | 1982 | Acrylic, oilstick and spray paint on canvas |
| Pez Dispenser | 1984 | Acrylic and oil stick on canvas |
| Riding with Death | 1988 | Acrylic and oil crayon on canvas |
| Self-Portrait with Suzanne | 1982 | Oil pastel on paper (Paris dossier) |
| Self-Portrait | 1984 | Acrylic and oil stick on paper mounted on canvas |
| Untitled (Head), often called Skull | 1981 | Acrylic and oilstick on canvas |
| Slave Auction | 1982 | Crumpled-paper collage, oil pastel and acrylic on canvas |
| Untitled (Sugar Ray Robinson) | 1982 | Acrylic and oil pastel/oil stick on canvas (record terms differ) |
| Untitled (Titian) | 1982 | Oil stick on canvas |
| Trumpet | 1984 | Acrylic and oil paintstick on canvas |
| Tuxedo | 1982–83 | Silkscreen on canvas, edition of ten |
| Untitled (Rotterdam figure) | 1982 | Acrylic paint and oil stick on canvas |
| Untitled (Crown) | 1982 | Acrylic, ink and paper collage on paper |
| Untitled (Boxer) | 1982 | Acrylic and oil paintstick on linen |
| Untitled (Fallen Angel) | 1981 | Acrylic and oil pastel on canvas; aerosol appears in a second record |
Frequently Asked Questions
King Alphonso belongs to Jean-Michel Basquiat's Daros Suite, a group of thirty-two drawings dated 1982–83. The Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris lists it by name within that suite and identifies the group as works on paper. The Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art's research guide separately records King Alphonso among the sheets exhibited from a private collection. These records make its basic identity clear: it is a drawing within a named group, rather than a canvas painting or a stand-alone image that can be described without reference to the suite.[1][2]
The Daros Suite is not a single thirty-two-part canvas. It is a set of named sheets on paper. The Paris checklist includes King Alphonso alongside works such as Bishop, Monticello, 50¢ Piece and Titian. Their juxtaposition suggests a field of historical names, institutions, commerce and art history, but the list alone does not reveal the order in which Basquiat made them or the precise relationship among all images. A reader should compare individual sheets before asserting a narrative sequence.[1]
A crown can be made into a prediction of Basquiat's fame or a supposed sign of his friendship with Andy Warhol. Neither claim follows from the sheet's documented title and medium. Warhol and Basquiat did later collaborate, but a resemblance between a crown and the letter “W” is not evidence that this drawing refers to him. The Warhol and Basquiat guide treats that relationship through recorded works and dates.[1][4]
The Paris exhibition checklist and Jordan Schnitzer Museum research guide document its suite membership and materials. They are the starting points for checking the name and object. An online view of Basquiat's protected drawing requires separate reproduction rights to be reused elsewhere. The institutional records let readers examine the evidence at its source.[2][5]
Discussion
Which documented detail changes how you read King Alphonso?
Reader Insights
Start with a visible mark, material or word.
Check date, support and collection before comparing images.
Which reading still needs an object-specific source?
Join the Conversation
Share an observation grounded in the work or its documented history.
References and further reading
- Musée d'Art Moderne de Paris, 2010–11 Basquiat exhibition dossier and checklist, The Daros Suite entry, names, 1982–83 date, sheet dimensions and group medium.
- Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, Basquiat artist research guide, King Alphonso and Daros Suite exhibition listing, medium and private-collection loan.
- Pérez Art Museum Miami, Basquiat: Figures, Signs, Symbols guide, comparative crown meanings in documented works.
- Andy Warhol Museum, Warhol and Basquiat collaboration lesson, joint-work context separate from this drawing.
- Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat, rights and reproduction FAQ, copyright in Basquiat artworks.
