 The museum was showing the previously unknown Basquiat. He is one of the best-known contemporary artists in the world. Basquiat rocketed to fame in the 1980s when he was just in his 20s, a contemporary of Andy Warhol and Keith Haring. He was of Haitian and Puerto Rican descent, and he captivated viewers with his graffiti and street art-inspired paintings. But Jean-Michel Basquiat was just 27 years old when he died of an accidental drug overdose in 1988.