Last updated: 27 October 2026
Keith Haring is the American artist whose chalk subway drawings, murals and Pop Shop made his line one of the most recognised of the 1980s. Here you will find our take on his work, his public art and where to find it.
Our take on Keith Haring
Haring found his audience on the New York subway. From 1980 he drew in white chalk on the black paper covering unused advertising panels, sometimes making as many as forty drawings in a day, according to the Keith Haring Foundation. The subway became, in his word, a “laboratory”.
He wanted art to be public and cheap. In 1986 he opened the Pop Shop in SoHo, selling T-shirts, toys and posters of his images, and between 1982 and 1989 he made more than 50 public artworks, many for charities, hospitals and children’s centres, including the Crack is Wack mural (1986) by New York’s FDR Drive.
Haring was diagnosed with AIDS in 1988, set up the Keith Haring Foundation in 1989, and died in 1990 aged 31.
Keith Haring: the essentials
- Born on 4 May 1958 in Reading, Pennsylvania, and raised in Kutztown.
- Studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York from 1978.
- Made his SoHo gallery debut at Tony Shafrazi Gallery in 1982, and showed at Documenta 7 and the Whitney Biennial.
- Painted a mural on the western side of the Berlin Wall and one at Necker Children’s Hospital in Paris (1987).
- Died of AIDS-related complications on 16 February 1990, aged 31. The Keith Haring Foundation funds AIDS organisations and children’s programmes.
Keith Haring exhibitions
- Rising Up: Rocky and the Making of Monuments (group), Philadelphia Museum of Art, 25 April to 2 August 2026.
- We found no current Keith Haring exhibition in the UK.
Where to buy Keith Haring
Haring made his images cheap on purpose, through the Pop Shop. Today his foundation licenses them, and original works sell at auction. Check that any print or product is officially licensed before you buy.
- Original works: sold through auction houses and galleries. The Keith Haring Foundation handles licensing and authentication.
Keith Haring FAQs
Where did Keith Haring draw on the subway?
On the black paper covering unused advertising panels in New York subway stations, in white chalk, from 1980.
What was the Pop Shop?
A shop Haring opened in SoHo in 1986 selling affordable T-shirts, toys, posters and badges of his images.
When did Keith Haring die?
On 16 February 1990, aged 31, of AIDS-related complications.
Who runs Keith Haring’s estate?
The Keith Haring Foundation, which he set up in 1989.
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Main image: Keith Haring at work in the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam, 1986. Photo: Rob Bogaerts / Anefo, Nationaal Archief, via Wikimedia Commons, CC0. Cropped and framed by CoolCuration. Exhibition dates and prices last checked: 27 October 2026.
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