Julian Schnabel Net Worth

What Is Julian Schnabel's Net Worth?

Julian Schnabel is an American artist, director, writer, and producer who has a net worth of $50 million. Julian Schnabel became a major figure in the Neo-expressionism movement in the '80s and became well known for his plate paintings.

Julian is known to be brash about how important he is to the world of art, and his work has been exhibited at museums around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Museum of Contemporary Art, Reina Sofia in Madrid, Tate Modern in London, and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. Schnabel wrote and directed the movies "Basquiat " (1996), "Before Night Falls" (2000), and "At Eternity's Gate" (2018), and he directed "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (2007), "Lou Reed's Berlin" (2007), and "Miral" (2010). He won a Golden Globe and earned an Academy Award nomination for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." Julian executive produced "Before Night Falls" as well as 2016's "Fatherland or Death" and 2017's "Julian Schnabel: A Private Portrait." He published the book "CVJ: Nicknames of Maitre D's and Other Excerpts from Life" in 1987, and he released the album "Every Silver Lining Has a Cloud" in 1995.

Early Life

Julian Schnabel was born October 26, 1951, in New York City. He comes from a Jewish family and is the son of Jack and Esta Schnabel. The family moved to Brownsville, Texas, in 1965, and Julian earned a B.F.A. from the University of Houston. After graduation, he applied to the Whitney Museum of American Art's Independent Study Program. He got in and took part in the program from 1973 to 1975. Schnabel met artist Joseph Glasco in Galveston in 1975, and they became good friends. Julian later encouraged Glasco to set up a studio in New York, and he introduced Joseph to Leslie Waddington, who set up an exhibition for him at Waddington Galleries, London.

Art Career

In 1975, Schnabel rented a studio in Houston's Heights neighborhood, and the following year his work was exhibited at the Contemporary Arts Museum Houston. In 1979, he had his first solo show, which took place at the Mary Boone Gallery, and all his artwork sold in advance.

In the '80s, Julian was involved with the Venice Biennale with Georg Baselitz and Anselm Kiefer, his work was exhibited in a show organized by Mary Boone and Leo Castelli, and he was the youngest artist to be showcased in the Royal Academy of Arts' "A New Spirit in Painting" exhibition. He uses materials such as wax, antlers, plaster, and velvet in his work and is known for large-scale paintings.

Schnabel painted the cover art (featuring his daughter Stella) for the 2002 Red Hot Chili Peppers album "By the Way." Band member John Frusciante stated, "My girlfriend's father offered to do the album art, so we sent him rough mixes of eight songs, and he just got the vibe of the album from that. He said that he wouldn't be offended if we didn't like it, but we loved what he did. He's also given us great covers for all the singles. He's a true artist."

From September 2010 to January 2011, the Art Gallery of Ontario housed an exhibition of Schnabel's work that took up the entire fifth floor. In 2011, Museo Correr in Italy put up the exhibition "Julian Schnabel: Permanently Becoming and the Architecture of Seeing."

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Film Career

Julian made his directorial debut with 1996's "Basquiat." He also wrote the screenplay and composed the film's music. He wrote, directed, and produced 2000's "Before Night Falls," which earned Javier Bardem an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor.

In 2007, two films Schnabel directed were released, "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" and "Lou Reed's Berlin." "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" won numerous awards, and Julian received an Academy Award nomination for Best Achievement in Directing. Next, he directed 2010's "Miral," which earned him two awards at the Venice Film Festival.

Schnabel wrote, directed, and edited the 2018 biographical drama "At Eternity's Gate," which is about Vincent van Gogh's final years. Willem Dafoe received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor for his portrayal of van Gogh, and Julian won two awards at the Venice International Film Festival. In September 2023, Schnabel announced that he would be writing and directing a film adaptation of the 2002 Nick Tosches novel "In the Hand of Dante."

Personal Life

Julian married clothing designer Jacqueline Beaurang in 1980, and they welcomed children Lola, Stella, and Vito Schnabel, before divorcing in 1992. Lola is a filmmaker and painter, Stella is an actress and poet, and Vito is an art dealer. Schnabel was married to actress Olatz López Garmendia from 1993 to 2010, and they have twin sons named Olmo and Cy. Olmo is a director and producer who earned several award nominations for the 2023 film "Pet Shop Days." From 2007 to 2011, Julian was in a relationship with journalist Rula Jebreal, who wrote the novel "Miral" was based on as well as the film's screenplay. Schnabel has a son with model May Andersen, who he split up with in 2014. He married interior designer Louise Kugelberg in 2019. In 2009, Julian signed a petition calling for the release of director Roman Polanski, who was arrested in Switzerland on a 1977 charge of drugging and raping a teenage girl.

Awards and Nominations

In 2019, Schnabel was honored with the Paez Medal of Art because his "contribution to the visual arts and film reflects the tremendous vitality and artistic passion of an exceptional contemporary American artist." In 2008, he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Achievement in Directing for "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly." The film also earned him awards from the Golden Globes, Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards, Boston Society of Film Critics Awards, Cannes Film Festival, Christopher Awards, Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival, Satellite Awards, Guild of German Art House Cinemas, Hamptons International Film Festival, Film Independent Spirit Awards, Kansas City Film Critics Circle Awards, AFI Fest, San Sebastián International Film Festival, Lumiere Awards, Association of Polish Filmmakers Critics Awards, International Cinephile Society Awards, Alliance of Women Film Journalists, and CinEuphoria Awards. For "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly," Julian also received nominations from the Argentinean Film Critics Association Awards, BAFTA Awards, Critics Choice Awards, Cinema Brazil Grand Prize, Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Association Awards, David di Donatello Awards, Directors Guild of America, Italian National Syndicate of Film Journalists, Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards, National Society of Film Critics Awards, Online Film Critics Society Awards, Chlotrudis Awards, Cinema for Peace Awards, St. Louis Film Critics Association, and Dublin Film Critics Circle Awards.

Schnabel won the Douglas Sirk Award for "Miral" at the 2010 Hamburg Film Festival, and he earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Director for "Before Night Falls" in 2001. He has received 10 Venice Film Festival award nominations, winning a Grand Special Jury Prize and OCIC Award – Honorable Mention for "Before Night Falls" (2000), UNESCO Award and UNICEF Award for "Miral" (2010), and a Green Drop Award and Fondazione Mimmo Rotella Award for "At Eternity's Gate" (2018).

Palazzo Chupi (Photo by Jason Kempin/Getty Images for Guess)

Palazzo Chupi

Julian lives in a home known as Palazzo Chupi in the West Village area of New York City. The home used to be a horse stable, but Schnabel converted it, adding five condos made to look like Northern Italian palazzos. The home is pink, and it includes an art gallery space, parking garage, and swimming pool. The building could be extremely valuable if it was ever offered for sale. Comparable prices would be impossible to peg.

In March 2020 Julian's ex-wife Jacqueline sold the townhouse in the West Village where they lived while they were married, for $18 million.