The first large-scale exhibition in the UK of the work of American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat. Running until 28 Jan 2018.

New York underground’s prodigal artist, who became one of the most celebrated talents in a generation, will finally get a major exhibition in the UK in 2017. For next year’s show, Barbican will feature more than 100 works and will include a reconstruction of Basquiat’s first show, part of a group show at the Manhattan commercial gallery PS1 in 1981.

"We are definitely long overdue,” said the curator Eleanor Nairne, promising an exhibition that would dig deeper into Basquiat’s complex works than ever before. Speaking to the Guardian, Nairne said a lot of people had a vague interest in and admiration for Basquiat, they understood his importance, but fewer people realised just how significant, sophisticated and complex a figure he was.

Nairne hopes the recreation will show just why Basquiat became such a superstar so quickly. More widely, curators hope to explode the many misconceptions that surround Basquiat. “People encounter image rather than works and make lots of presumptions,” said Nairne.

Taking its name from a phrase Basquiat would use when he loved something, Boom for Real is guest-curated by Basquiat expert Dieter Buchhart and will run from 21st September 2017 to 28th January 2018.