1000-piece Jean-Michel Basquiat Untitled (Julius Caesar on Gold) Jigsaw Puzzle

Piece Together a King 👑🧩

Painted in 1981, Untitled (Julius Caesar on Gold) comes from the turning point of Basquiat’s career. Only a short time earlier, he had been the anonymous street poet behind the SAMO tag, scrawling cryptic lines across downtown Manhattan. By 1981 he was a rising force in the contemporary art world, and this canvas captures that leap in a single blaze of gold.

At its centre stands a dark, skeletal warrior outlined in stark white, crowned with Basquiat’s signature three-pointed crown. A sword is raised in one hand. A trident-like emblem, evoking gladiatorial combat, is held in the other. The ribcage is drawn as a tangle of looping lines, a motif traced back to Basquiat’s childhood fascination with Gray’s Anatomy, the medical textbook he was given as a boy. It is power and fragility in one figure. 💪

Fascinating Facts to Share Over the Puzzle Table ☕

• The crown is a statement. Basquiat used it to elevate Black figures into kings, saints and heroes, rewriting a story that Western art history had long told with white monarchs and generals.
• The title is a provocation. Pairing Roman imperial authority with a Black protagonist subverts classical heroism and reclaims it.
• Gold carries multiple meanings. It echoes Byzantine icons and medieval altarpieces, but also the wealth of empire and Basquiat’s own complicated relationship with the art market.
• A tragic hero stands in the frame. Like Caesar, who fell to betrayal, this warrior looks triumphant yet precariously exposed.
• The materials are raw. Gold paint, acrylic and oilstick combine violent, immediate mark-making with the discipline of fine art composition.

Completed, the puzzle measures a generous 25.6" x 25.6" (65 cm x 65 cm), echoing the square shape of the original canvas and giving that golden warrior real presence on the table. 📐