Looking back on American art in the 1980s, a few figures loom larger than the rest. Jean-Michel Basquiat is one such artist; Keith Haring is another. Both men have immediately recognizable styles; both also died tragically young. (Basquiat was 27 when he died; Haring, 31.) The top prices that collectors have paid for Basquiat’s work have, however, been significantly more than comparable work by Haring.
Could that be about to change? In a recent article for Puck, Marion Maneker explored the gap between the way the art market has responded to works by each man, and what the future might hold. Maneker points out that Basquiat’s art was designed for museums and galleries more than Haring’s — but also that “[i]n conversations about art, imagery, and the importance of the New York graffiti scene, no one would privilege either of these artists over the other.”
Maneker goes on to point to an upcoming exhibition of Haring’s work at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art scheduled to take place in 2026. Perhaps this, Maneker argues, could end up boosting Haring’s standing among well-heeled art collectors.
It’s worth noting here that Crystal Bridges has shown work by Haring before — including installing Haring’s sculpture Two-Headed Figure on the museum’s grounds in 2013. The sculpture later traveled to Los Angeles’s Broad Museum last year as part of the retrospective show Keith Haring: Art Is for Everybody.
At the time, the Los Angeles Times‘ Christopher Knight observed that “Haring pictures the virtue of robust resistance to intimidation.” When 2026 comes around, we’ll see what the response is to the Crystal Bridges show — aesthetically, economically and politically.
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