Galerie Jeanne

The American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat was the first African American artist whose paintings and drawings were accepted by the white art world of his time.

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s works of art are very popular with international art collectors. They are counted among the most important works of art of the 20th century.

The Afro-American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat was one of the first artists whose paintings and drawings were accepted early on in the “white art world”.

Basquiat had American role models like Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg, Jackson Pollock or Roy Lichtenstein among others he also studied Henri Matisse and Pablo Picasso.

Jean-Michel Basquiat’s works, which, due to their artistic immediacy, take place directly on the image carrier, are assigned to Neo-Expressionism through this way of working. They contain everything that Basquiat found in daily life and that he could quote in his works. We find signs, words, numbers, symbols, sketches, logos, map fragments and pictograms or – as the artist Basquiat himself always emphasized – “facts”!

AND: Basquiat’s earlier pictorial ideas always flow back into his work – quotations from his own works appear. Every work of art by Jean-Michel Basquiat that you find in the Galerie Jeanne in downtown Munich always contains an approach from earlier works. The early collaboration with Andy Warhol is evident in many works of art.

Built up in layers, everything could remain with Basquiat’s works of art, or everything could be painted over again up to the fragmentary quotation.

In the history of art, viewers felt reminded of African folk art. Indeed, the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat brings together artifacts from his own lifetime in his works.


Jean-Michel Basquiat himself felt like “part of graffiti art”


The attempt to classify him as a “graffiti artist” was not enough. Jean-Michel Basquiat himself felt himself to be “part of graffiti art”, which was typical of his time. The artist Basquiat’s self-image was not that of a painter, he saw himself as a “writer” and his works as notes of what he himself experienced, found and processed or of what was questioned. The art historiography of the eighties understood his art as graffiti art or neo-expressionism, which looks past the strongly content-bound and very meaningful, almost speaking works of the artist.

Basquiat was ahead of his time in artistic creation: everything he interpreted pictorially was the reality that he experienced and transferred to his image carrier.

Andy Warhol (1928-1987) was an American artist and co-founder as well as the most important exponent of American Pop Art
Andy Warhol is the most important representative and co-founder of the international pop art movement and one of the most important artists of the 20th century. His New York studio and the legendary factory have cult status.

Andy Warhol created iconic motifs that shaped and inspired Pop Art

Andy Warhol declared screen printing to be an art medium (Silk screen) and duplication received a new technique in art history

As a successful advertising illustrator, he gave new input to the pop art movement through his screen prints.

Andy Warhol was shown at the 4th documenta (1968), the 6th documenta (1977) and the 7th documenta (1982) in Kassel. Since Warhol presented the United States of America pavilion at the Venice art event (the Biennale) in 1976, he had established himself as the most important artist of his time.
As an artist, filmmaker, and publisher, Warhol expanded his genre and career, which began in 1950 as a graphic designer and illustrator for fashion and lifestyle magazines. From 1945 to 1949 he had studied commercial art at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, now Carnegie Mellon University. He had degrees in painting and design. paintings and screenprints.

Warhol concentrated on pop culture subjects, Hollywood stars, comic and cartoon motifs such as Mickey Mouse, Popeye and Superman. Initially drawn by hand, screen printing soon became his technique. As a result, the artist distanced himself from the abstract expressionism of his time and from action painting. And he carried the spirit of his time, because Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg had also discovered these motifs for themselves.

In June 2022, the Rolling Stones had their concert in Munich (Germany). Mick Jagger shows the work of Andy Warhol (1928 – 1987) at the exhibition stand of Galerie Jeanne from Munich in a serial print on Arches Aquarelle handmade paper.

It was created in 1975 in an edition of 250 and was personally signed and numbered by Mick Jagger and Andy Warhol. Andy Warhol (1928-1987) is the most important representative and co-founder of the international Pop Art movement and one of the most important artists of the 20th century. His New York studio and the legendary „Factory“ have cult status. Warhol focused on pop culture subjects, Hollywood stars, comic and cartoon motifs. Initially drawn by hand, screen printing soon became his technique. This distanced the artist from the Abstract Expressionism of his time and from Action Painting. He hit the nerve of his time, because Roy Lichtenstein and Robert Rauschenberg had also discovered these motifs for themselves.

The American painter, graphic artist and object artist Tom Wesselmann is one of the most important American Pop Art artists of the 1960s.

Tom Wesselmann’s works of art have significantly influenced the style of “Pop Art” in the art of the last century

The artist is named in art history as one of the legendary founding fathers of this style. The Pop Art artist has had a formative influence on his generation and on contemporary art, just like his artist colleagues Andy Warhol (1928-1987), Robert Rauschenberg (1925-2008) and Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) exercised overall.



Tom Wesselmann has often described himself as the heir of Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres (1780-1867) or Henri Matisse in his conception of art, Tom Wesselmann’s influence on subsequent generations of artists such as Eric Fischl (US American painter, *1948) or Richard Phillips (American painter, *1962). He himself repeatedly quoted the classic nude paintings or the still lifes and landscapes by Édouard Manet (1832-1882), Henri Matisse (1869-1*54) and Pablo Picasso (1881-1973).

From studying psychology to Tom Wesselmann’s military service during the Korean War (1952-1954), during which the first comic drawings were created and the subsequent art studies at the Art Academy (Cincinnati) in New York at the “Cooper Union School of Art and Architecture” to to the first solo exhibition in New York in 1961, the step to the international art scene is not far away.

As early as 1968 Tom Wesselmann took part in documenta 4 in Kassel and almost 10 years later in 1977 he was at documenta 6.

In his works, Tom Wesselmann also devotes himself to the aesthetics of still life. With his floral still lifes, the artist made an important contribution to the further development of pop art culture as a whole. Again and again it is the female nude that Wesselmann places at the center of his artistic work – whereby sexual provocation is included.

Since 1983 the artist has also been using metal as a slide.


Tom Wesselmann as an artist of the style “Pop Art”

Internationally, Tom Wesselmann’s “Great American Nudes” and his still lifes from the early 1960s, which are always surprising in terms of the freshness of their coloring, are in demand with collectors. The artist has constantly evolved in his work, with new techniques and the “vital aesthetics” of his art being of interest to collections worldwide. His works can be classified into “Abstract Expressionism”, Pop Art and “American Pop Art”. Tom Wesselmann is one of the “American Modernists”.

The Spanish artist Manolo Valdés (b. 1942 in Valencia) studied for two years – from 1956 to 1958 – in Valencia at the “Academy of Fine Arts / Real Academia de Bellas Artes”. He left the academy to finally work freely and create artworks.

Manolo Valdés was one of the co-founders of the Spanish “Pop Art” group “Equipo Crónica” (founded in 1964) with Juan Antonia Toledo establish kind.

Within the artist group “Equipo Crónica” Valdés developed his artistic language, which quotes and strives for the open air

As in a nod to art history, Manolo Valdés sometimes refers to Greek historiography, sometimes to Jan van Eyck (1390-1441), sometimes to Henry Matisse (1869-1954), sometimes to Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) or sometimes to Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997) and Andy Warhol (1928-1987).

As in the 2001 lithograph and collage on paper board ‘Reina Mariana V Tribute to Lichtenstein’, which is currently for sale at Galerie Jeanne in Munich (see image above).


A portion of irony and humor always resonates in his work when – as in the example mentioned – the portrait of “Queen Doña Mariana of Austria” from a classic work by Diego Velázquez (1599-1660) is broken down into a construction drawing then to collage the smallest fragments from the work “Girl with Hair Band” by the pop artist Roy Lichtenstein (1923-1997).

Manolo Valdés fragmentarily dissects the great works of art history and often only extracts a detail for his newly interpreted statements and appealing pop art compositions.


As a painter, sculptor and graphic artist, Manolo Valdés established a completely new artistic language

In his compositions and new interpretations, the pop art artist repeatedly draws on works from art history and likes to draw on the renowned artists of his home country. Image sections, outline drawings and portraits are included in their own compositions as outlines. In Valdés pop art, everything appears new and yet rooted in what already exists.

Manolo Valdés’ collages become sculptural experiences, so to speak, thanks to all kinds of materials used.

The US-American artist SAM FRANCIS (1923-1994) is one of the most important and significant protagonists of ACTION PAINTING


Sam Francis is one of the internationally leading artists of the so-called second generation of Abstract Expressionism.



The painter Sam Francis (real name: Samuel Lewis Francis) found his spontaneous and wild style of painting to apparently unintentional color gradients


In his Action Painting, Sam Francis dealt with existing styles such as Abstract Expressionism with Tachisme, the established color field painting, Impressionism, Far Eastern art movements and calligraphy. In San Francisco, Sam Francis belonged to the Abstract Expressionists along with Mark Rothko (1903-1970), Clifford Still (1904-1980) and David Park (1911-1960).

Sam Francis was impressed when he observed fellow artist Jackson Pollock (1912 – 1956), who in his well-known “Drip Paintings” poured, dripped or splashed the colors onto the picture carrier. Through his technique Pollock freed his compositions from the line.

Sam Francis came into contact with many artists, art techniques and painting styles on his many international travels. Everything served to inspire the artist towards his own expression.

In the 1950s, Sam Francis stayed in Paris, where he encountered European Art Informel (non-geometric and non-representational painting). At times he belonged to the so-called Art Informel movement, which had emerged from Surrealism.

By dealing with all these art styles and artist colleagues, Sam Francis came to his artistic expression in “action painting”.

Since the 1970s, Sam Francis was the master of action painting

The Absence of Emptiness and Painterly Presence in Sam Francis Etchings, Lithographs and Monotypes
In his Action Painting, the artist Sam Francis was always fascinated by all the possibilities that etching, lithography and monotype offered him.

Sam Francis was a great graphic artist and owner of the famous Litho Shop’s in Santa Monica (Los Angeles).

His mostly colorful works of art, which always give space to emptiness – according to the principles of Zen Buddhism – are full of artistic energy, liveliness and joie de vivre.

Starting from the well-known basic colors, Sam Francis combined gemstone-colored, almost glassy, translucent color elements that appear to have been randomly dribbled, rolled or sprayed and are decentralized and pushed to the edges to form a complex visual language.

As the founder of The Lapis Press, Sam Francis knew how to model visual elements in text progressions.

Serge Poliakoff (January 8, 1900 in Moscow – October 1969) discovered art at the age of 14. It’s not far from drawing lessons to the first landscape studies.

After years in the army, Serge Poliakoff finds a new home in Paris. As a musician he can live there.

From 1929, the Académie de la Grande-Chaumière became his painting school. Group exhibitions follow. From 1933 Poliakoff studied at the Académie Frochot with Derf and Friesz. In 1935 he went to London with his French partner and attended the Grosvenor School of Art and the Slade School of Art. The artefacts in the British Museum became his school.

The years 1937-1939 in Paris were of decisive importance for Serge Poliakoff’s artistic career

From here, Poliakoff will become an important pacesetter at the École de Paris. Here the encounters with the artist friends Wassily Kandinsky, who promotes abstraction in Poliakoff’s works, with Sonia Delaunay and Robert Delaunay, who make his palette more emotional, and above all with Otto Freundlich, who strongly influences his style and composition.

From then on, Poliakoff painted abstract paintings.

From 1946 the artist’s palette became almost monochrome in soft colors. His first lithograph is printed and opens up a new medium for Serge Poliakoff.


It was the year 1952 that Serge Poliakoff became independent as a painter

He gets his first gallery contract and can give up the music that has fed his family up to now.

His encounter with the works of Malevitch changed his palette again – even with negated color an expression is intensive and possible. His work will be shown overseas for the first time. He was enthusiastically received in New York. In 1953-1954 the gazettes were enthusiastic about the artist and his exhibitions were well attended.

The 1956 Lissone Prize and a monograph on Serge Poliakoff speak for themselves.

In 1957 Poliakoff ventured into etching for the first time. In the following years he travels with his exhibitions through European museums and inspires with individual exhibitions. Three years later, the Kunsthalle Bern shows over 130 works by the artist.

In 1958, Serge Poliakoff has international solo exhibitions in museums in France, Germany and England.

In 1966, Poliakoff was awarded the Grand Prize at the Menton Biennial. A retrospective at the Maison de la Caen will be his last exhibition in his lifetime.

Serge Poliakoff dies in 1969.