In Jean-Michel Basquiat’s personal mythology, the talismans and spiritual guides he planted in his art represented “royalty, heroism, and the streets.” Basquiat’s paintings saw Abstract Expressionism getting gritty, graffiti ascending into the gallery, and he himself heading into history. The powerful outlines, the intrusions of color, the giddy bombast—you feel Basquiat’s pleasure in painting. In 1988, when the artist was just 27, he died of a heroin overdose. With 200 of his paintings, sculptures, and drawings on display, this Basquiat retrospective is big. The location is the Starrett-Lehigh Building, and the exhibition design is by Sir David Adjaye. Basquiat’s family curated the show, and many of the works reveal a different facet of the artist, one distinctly more personal. —Elena Clavarino