Moses and the Egyptians
1982Acrylic and oil stick on canvas185.9 x 137 x 4 cm
Moses and the Egyptians (1982) is one of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s fundamental works, produced when he was only twenty years old, in his most productive years.
In the early 1980s, having become a celebrity, Basquiat was fighting discrimination and hypocrisy on a daily basis. Based on his own experience and his knowledge of African-American history, he stood up against colonialism and racism, a stance he showed in his works. Basquiat created a style of his own: a brilliant mix of text, drawing, and painting, rooted in the artist’s exploration of the creative possibilities of graffiti and canvas. His writing is laden with symbolic meaning, while his representations evoke the figure of the hero in the form of saints, victims, angels, or warriors.
In Moses and the Egyptians, the canvas is covered with overlapping layers of white paint, applied in bold strokes surrounding the central element: two stone tablets in magenta. The profile of a face appears in the center of the composition, while a series of phrases, including “STAFF INTO SERPENT TRICK”, “WATER INTO BLOOD”, AND “TEN PLAUGES” (sic), are scribbled in a seemingly chaotic layout, which gives the impression of impulse, enhanced by the ideas of movement and speed emerging from the painting.
Here Basquiat refers to the Book of Exodus, the second book of the Bible, where God-sent Moses and his brother Aaron ask Ramses II, Pharaoh of Egypt, to free the Hebrews from slavery. When asked to perform a miracle, Aaron throws his staff down and it becomes a snake. On the following day, he turns the waters of Egypt into blood. As Ramses II refuses to free the slaves, nine other plagues follow, prompting the Pharaoh to expel the Israelites, now free men. Basquiat draws on the Biblical tale to deal with social injustice, drawing a parallel between the liberation of the oppressed in Egypt and contemporary issues such as inequality, racism, and respect for identity.
Original title
Moses and the Egyptians
Date
1982
Medium/Materials
Acrylic and oil stick on canvas
Dimensions
185.9 x 137 x 4 cm
Credit line
Guggenheim Bilbao Museoa Gift, Bruno Bischofberger, Zurich
