Watching Basquiat by Julian Schnabel informed me of Basquiat’s life in a different way than watching Tamra Davis’ film did. The film by Schnabel is described as a lightly fictitious portrayal of Basquiat’s life. While the movie is emotional and dramatic as well as informative of important points in Basquiat’s life, I don’t feel like I know who Basquiat is and what fuels his artwork. Because I had heard of Basquiat before, I had an idea of who he was and what he did, but I am still only able to talk about his art and his life in a distant and unsure way because of things that may have been omitted and made overly dramatic in the film. An overview of his life is important, but Davis’ documentary does a much better job of showcasing specifically how he was led to create and make artwork because of certain life experiences that he had. I enjoyed Schnabel’s take on Basquiat’s life and art, but it didn’t allow me to get to know his existence and thought processes as intimately as I wanted to.