Untitled was executed by Jean-Michel Basquiat in Modena, Italy in 1982, which is considered his most valuable year. A majority of the highest-selling Basquiat paintings at auction date to 1982. That year he also became the youngest artist ever invited to participate in Documenta in Kassel, Germany. Basquiat had initially been invited to Modena in 1981 by art dealer Emilio Mazzoli, for his first one-man show at Galleria d'Arte Emilio Mazzoli, after he had seen Basquiat's work at the New York/New Wave February 1981 show at New York's MoMA PS1. Basquiat returned to Modena in March 1982, and during this trip he created a series of paintings; Untitled being the largest at over sixteen feet wide and almost eight feet tall.
