Focus on this artwork and discuss the Analysis.
Author Jana Evans Braziel describes Crown Hotel (Mona Lisa Black Background) as "a cacophonic visual screen onto which he casts his (and American culture's) anxieties about art, race, class, and commoditization." Basquiat studied the anatomical drawings of Leonardo da Vinci, who was his favorite artist. He references Leonardo's Mona Lisa in the painting with captions like "MONA LISA – SEVENTEEN PERCENT MONA LISA FOR FOOLS." 
Basquiat contrasts a black background with a centered frontal figure of a nude white woman surrounded by colorful texts and cartoon heads. The female figure may be a nod to Édouard Manet's Olympia. To the left of the figure, Basquiat directly references Manet's Olympia, a reoccurring subject tackled by Basquiat in his works during that period such as Three quarters of Olympia minus the Servant (1982) and Untitled (Detail of Maid from Olympia) (1982). Author Leonard Emmerling noted that "if a black woman is a rarity in European painting, it is all the more indicative of an underlying racism when one does appear, as Manet's work, merely as the servant of a naked, white-skinned beauty."Above the oval-framed word "OLYMPIA" is a golden crown. The three-pointed crown was Basquiat's signature artistic motif. Although the crown is a sign of royalty and honor, written below is the commodity value: "SIX AMERICAN DOLLARS." Given the title of the painting, Crown Hotel, "the price may be a nightly rate...Is this a hotel or gallery? Are the severed cartoon heads those of dealers? Or pimps?"
Olympia anatomical Mona Lisa commoditization Leonardo da Vinci Édouard Manet motif