All 31 Keith Haring subway drawings put up for sale by Sotheby’s have been sold for a total of $9.2 million, exceeding the auction house’s $6.9 million pre-sale estimate.
Haring, born in Reading, Pennsylvania, first began leaving chalk drawings on empty advertising canvasses in the 1980s as a means of passing time during his daily commutes across the Big Apple. “I remember noticing a panel in the Times Square station and immediately going above ground and buying chalk,” the artist recalled. “After the first drawing, things just fell into place.”
What began as a hobby quickly blossomed into an accomplished artistic career. By the time of his death in 1990 at age 31, Haring was one of the most famous graphic artists in the country, and a pioneer of the urban graffiti subculture that survives until this day.
One of the last subway drawings Haring ever created, Untitled (Still Alive in ’85), which depicts a chaotic composition of stick figures and symbols emerging from the cracked-open brain of a central figure, sold for $900,000, exceeding Sotheby’s sales estimate by $200,000.
The auction, preceded by an exhibition at Sotheby’s York Avenue galleries in which the drawings were displayed inside lifelike reproductions of the subway carts they originally adorned, attracted collectors from across the world, and for good reason. Though seemingly cartoony, Haring’s work commented on important social events that contemporary New Yorkers felt were being ignored or misrepresented by politicians and the media.
All 31 drawings came from the private collection of Larry Warsh, one of the world’s foremost collectors of Haring’s art. Warsh was an early admirer of Haring, first encountering his work on the subway near his residence on Astor Place during the 1980s. He began buying up the drawings the following decade, directly from people who removed them from the subway.
Warsh not only collected works from Haring. He purchased his first piece of art—a painting by American artist Raphael Soyer—when he was still in high school, using money he had made selling tickets for Rolling Stones concerts in Manhattan. In addition to Haring, he also owns various notebooks that once belonged to Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as contemporary Chinese photography.
“I am so happy that these works will be enjoyed across the globe,” Warsh said of the Sotheby’s auction, “and hope they will go on display once more for all to enjoy as a testament to Keith’s legacy. It is an immense privilege to have played a part in this historic moment.”
“Today’s remarkable result is a resounding testament to Haring,” added Ashkan Baghestani, the Head of Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Day Auction in New York, “one of the most influential artists of his generation. His impact on New York will never be forgotten, and was felt during the presale exhibition—it was deeply moving to see so many visitors in the galleries and hear their personal stories of encountering his work firsthand. It’s been a true honor to celebrate the vision and energy of this extraordinary artist, and a real thrill to see his genius so fully celebrated in our saleroom today.”
