The 'Anti-Nuclear' Painting That Set Keith Haring's Auction Record
3 min read · 18 Feb 2025
Untitled. Image courtesy of Sotheby's
Keith Haring's Untitled (1982) sold for $6.54m at Sotheby's in New York on May 18, 2017. The acrylic painting on vinyl tarpaulin with metal grommets had been traded three times before.
Haring's large-scale painting, which measures more than 3 metres high, features the unique symbolic language he first developed in his chalk drawings on the New York subway.
Untitled (1982) includes a reference to the threat of nuclear annihilation in the form of an atomic cloud, along with radiant baby, red Xs, barking dogs and angels. Disarmament was a subject close to the heart of the artist, who helped organize an anti-nuclear rally in Central Park in 1982.
The Last Rainforest. Image courtesy of Sotheby's
The sale beat Haring's previous auction record by $982,200, a 17% rise. His previous record was set by The Last Rainforest (1989), which sold for $5.56m at Sotheby's on June 28, 2016. The work, considered to be one of Haring's last masterworks, had been traded once before.
A Brief History of Keith Haring at Auction
Sale Date | Title | Price | Record Increase | Venue | City |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2017-05-18 | Untitled | $6.54m | 18 % | Sotheby's | New York |
2016-06-28 | The Last Rainforest | $5.56m | 14 % | Sotheby's | London |
2014-05-14 | Untitled (september 14, 1986) | $4.87m | 95 % | Sotheby's | New York |
2007-05-17 | Untitled | $2.5m | 190 % | Christie's | New York |
2007-02-08 | Untitled | $861,800 | 39 % | Christie's | London |
2006-11-16 | Untitled | $620,000 | 13 % | Christie's | New York |
2004-05-12 | Untitled - People | $550,000 | 53 % | Sotheby's | New York |
2001-11-16 | Untitled | $360,000 | 18 % | Christie's | New York |
1989-12-17 | Black painting | $305,500 | 78 % | Catherine Charbonneaux | Paris |
1989-10-09 | South Africa | $171,400 | 49 % | Briest | Paris |
1989-10-05 | Untitled | $115,000 | 229 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1988-11-11 | Untitled | $35,000 | 8 % | Sotheby's | New York |
1988-05-02 | Baby | $32,500 | - | Sotheby's | New York |
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