Japanese Online Retailer Maezawa Buys $57.3 Million Basquiat

  • Yusaku Maezawa purchased $81.4 million of art at Christie's
  • The 40-year-old says he'll open a private museum near Tokyo

Yusaku Maezawa, the 40-year-old founder of a Japanese online retailer, bought Jean-Michel Basquiat’s painting depicting a horned devil’s head with streams of red, green and black paint for $57.3 million.

Maezawa purchased the Basquiat and four other works totaling $81.4 million, the Contemporary Art Foundation, a Tokyo-based organization he founded in 2012, said in a statement Wednesday. Maezawa said he plans to open a private museum in his hometown of Chiba outside Tokyo to show his collection, which he has developed over the past 10 years.