Sotheby’s recent online auction of pieces from Keith Haring’s personal collection, including works by the artist himself, underscored his enduring popularity. Titled “Dear Keith,” the week-long event concluded yesterday, raking in $4.6 million, a remarkable three times its original high estimate. Every single lot found a buyer, earning the auction the coveted “white glove” status in industry parlance.
As major auction houses continue to appeal to younger audiences with pop culture-themed offerings, Sotheby’s noted that more than half of the bidders in the Haring sale were new to the auction house.
The standout sale of the evening was Andy Warhol’s portrait of Keith Haring and Juan DuBose from 1983, which fetched $504,000, double its high estimate of $250,000. Haring once confessed to initially feeling intimidated by Warhol, but the two eventually became friends and exchanged numerous works.
Another notable piece was an untitled composite work from 1981, created by street artists Fab Five Freddy, Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Futura, Rammellzee, Haze, Zephyr, Sniper, CHI-193, and Chino. This piece sold for $504,000, surpassing its high estimate of $120,000. Sotheby’s highlighted that this work is a rare example of street artists tagging Plexiglas instead of conventional surfaces like walls or train cars. (Fab Five Freddy had invited what he considered the best graffiti artists to tag the tiles in white marker.)
The auction also featured a strong representation of the street art scene that Haring was part of in the 1970s and ’80s, with impressive results for artists like John “Crash” Matos, Lady Pink, Lee Quiñones, and Rammellzee. Rammellzee’s sculpture “Death Note: Intrude the Prelude-Paint a Time That Clocks Out” from 1988 sold for $214,200, exceeding its high estimate of $60,000.
An understated untitled sketch by Jean-Michel Basquiat, made of acrylic on found aluminum, sold for $226,800, surpassing its estimate of $100,000—150,000. Roy Lichtenstein’s visually striking “Forms In Space” from 1985 sold for $214,200, well above its presale high estimate of $70,000. It is dated 1985 and inscribed “For Keith.” Meanwhile, a circa 1985 work on paper by Kenny Scharf, featuring the artist’s signature vibrant colors and alien-like figures, sold for $226,800.
Shortly before his death in 1990, Haring established the Keith Haring Foundation to support children, promote HIV/AIDS care and education, and preserve his legacy. The foundation sold the works at Sotheby’s and will donate all proceeds to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Community Center of New York, for which Haring created a large-scale mural in 1989.
