Leonardo da Vinci's Greatest Hits,

1982

While Basquiat was recovering from an accident that left him in the hospital for a month, his mother gave him a copy of Gray’s Anatomy. First published in 1858, the book fueled Basquiat’s fascination with the inner workings of the human body—especially its muscles and bones. Leonardo da Vinci’s Greatest Hits reflects the artist’s study of Gray’s Anatomy as well as Leonardo’s anatomical drawings. Basquiat scattered drawings of bodies and body parts throughout the painting, with many funny and nonsensical graphic notations. In the lower-left corner he depicted the African American folk hero John Henry to acknowledge the effects of manual labor. According to legend, Henry, a steel driver, competed against a steam-powered drill, a recent invention. Henry bested his mechanized opponent, only to die from exhaustion at his moment of victory. He became a symbol of both the labor and civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s.