‘Da Vinci’s Water Theory’ 1983

Jean-Michel Basquiat made ‘Da Vinci’s Water Theory’ with oil stick and spray paint, and you can almost feel him right there, wrestling with the canvas. The dark blue ground feels infinite, like a blackboard or a night sky, with layers of white scrawls and pictograms. It makes me think of Cy Twombly, another graffiti artist who thought about history. Here, Basquiat nods to Leonardo, scribbling '85% water’ as if he’s channeling the great man's scientific speculations. The figure is outlined in dripping strokes of yellow and red, like an apparition, or a flash of insight. Look at those eyes, they're not just seeing but knowing. Basquiat’s marks are urgent, edgy, but he’s not just throwing paint. There’s a deeper connection to art history. It’s like he’s saying that painting is a way of thinking and feeling, a way of being alive to all the possibilities that are out there. It's a conversation, not just with Leonardo, but with all of us who try to make sense of the world through art.