Keith Haring

The American artist Keith Haring was born on 4 May 1958 in Reading, Pennsylvania, and is known for his graffiti-inspired drawings. He is considered an outstanding representative of Pop Art.

Keith Haring was already fascinated by pop culture and cartoons as a child and learnt to draw at an early age. From 1978, he studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York, where he immersed himself in the flourishing art scene that was forming outside museums and galleries in New York. During this time, he also became close friends with well-known artists such as Jean-Michel Basquiat. Haring's career was short-lived, however, as he died on 16 February 1990 at the age of 31 as a result of an AIDS infection. In his short but intense career as an artist, he left his mark on the New York art scene of the 1980s with his unmistakable style.

Keith Haring used his art to express universal concepts of love, sex, death and war, as well as to draw attention to relevant issues of his time, such as dictatorship, racism, drug addiction, homophobia and environmental destruction. After falling ill with AIDS, he also worked to raise public awareness of the AIDS virus. With characteristic cartoon-like images such as dancing figures and barking dogs, his works are filled with unusual energy and optimism. Keith Haring created an enduring visual language that continues to resonate around the world today and is still as relevant today as it was then. Today, his works can be found in numerous important collections worldwide.