New York City-based artist Lucien Smith, who passed away earlier this year, died as a result of an accidental fentanyl overdose, officials have ruled.

The 37-year-old California native passed away in September of this year, with New York City’s Medical Examiner now ruling on his death.

Officials told the Daily Mail that Smith died as a result of ‘acute intoxication by the combined effects of fentanyl and oxycodone,’ his death was ruled an accident.

Just a few grains of the powerful opioid, which is 50 times stronger than heroin, can cause a fatal overdose.

As a young artist, he was known for his series of ‘Rain Paintings’, which involved him spraying paint from a fire extinguisher onto canvases.

He graduated from Manhattan’s Cooper Union in 2011 and quickly rose to being a staple of the city’s art world, even modeling for cult brand Supreme.

In a May 2013 article published in The New York Times ‘T Magazine,’ the outlet hailed him as a ‘wunderkind artist.’

That was followed by Forbes naming him in their ’30 Under 30′ list in both 2013 and 2014, with one of his paintings selling for $389,000 in 2011.

At the time, Forbes said: ‘Smith makes canvases with layered oil paint and detritus like newspaper and aluminum pie plates.

‘One painting shows a hazy seascape. Another piece: silk screens of indexes from biology textbooks, covered in Plexiglass.’

At 25, Smith’s paintings had sold for millions of dollars collectively, he later turned against commercial galleries and started advocating for himself and others.

That was after prices started to tumble for Smith and a host of other young artists, with a Rain painting of his fetching $12,500 in 2017.

He previously told the magazine Office: ‘I had sort of lost belief in myself and what I was making.

‘So I had a little bit of a breakdown, a meltdown, I wanted to self-destruct because I wanted to destroy the thing that I built.

‘As this sort of facade and dive into some identity crisis and to figure out like who I was so that I could come back in a moment like this and be much stronger in my foundation and be able to handle criticism.’

In 2017, he launched his own nonprofit organization named Serving the People in the hopes of providing a community and support for up-and-coming artists.

At the time of his death Smith was in a relationship with Jane Brooks, who paid an emotional tribute to him via her social media.

She said: ‘My special one. I will love you until my last breath. This is how I will remember you.

‘Warm and safe in our bed, with goji at our feet and shiro on our pillow. Harry Potter on the tv, McDonald’s and you making sure there’s extra ranch for me.

‘Us smiling and laughing, so happy and excited that we get to have a sleepover every night for the rest of our lives. A playdate every day.

‘We had over five years together in this lifetime. Equally beautiful and hard. Two souls that couldn’t tell where one stopped and the other started.

‘That got us into trouble sometimes, refusing to let go of each other. White knuckle grip until our hands gave out.

‘But being a part of you is the greatest gift I will ever have in this life. I will look for you, like you promised you will look for me, in every lifetime to come.

‘I love you so, so much. I miss you. I’m so sorry. I will never say goodbye. Just until next time. There will never be another you. Not for me, not for anyone.’