Andy Warhol & Keith Haring: Party of Life

They were pop stars, charismatic networkers and (self-)marketing geniuses: Andy Warhol and Keith Haring were not only two of the most famous artists of the second half of the 20th century. They also revolutionized established ideas of art and its dissemination. Warhol’s pop paintings and Haring’s dancing figures are part of our collective visual memory and remain omnipresent to this day in advertising, fashion, music and film. Despite their large age gap and different styles, these two artists were friends and companions. They met in New York’s art and clubbing scene and influenced each other—and many others besides. 

With Andy Warhol & Keith Haring. Party of Life, Museum Brandhorst presents the world’s first comprehensive institutional exhibition dedicated to the two artists. The title of the show borrows the motto from Keith Haring’s birthday parties: “Party of Life” relays the cosmos of the 1980s, of MTV, discos, vogueing, hip-hop, New Wave and graffiti. The exhibition traces Haring’s and Warhol’s friendship in this environment. It reveals parallels in their artistic identity, their openness to cooperation and collaborative projects, as well as in their inclusive attitude: Art and its messages should reach as many people as possible.

Andy Warhol (1928–1987) and Keith Haring (1958–1990) both came from Christian families in Pennsylvania. As young gay men, they soon left heteronormative structures behind them—both were drawn to New York (albeit 30 years apart). As one of the pioneers of Pop Art, Warhol changed the understanding and concept of art and was a major influence on the young Haring. The latter left thousands of “Subway Drawings” in the public spaces of New York’s subways, used his art in activist poster campaigns and opened his Pop Shop in 1986, with the support of Warhol, where he sold t-shirts, badges and posters designed by himself and other artists. During this time, Warhol produced TV shows and created commissioned works and celebrity portraits. In 1979 he painted the Art Car, a racing car commissioned by the German car company BMW, which can also be seen in the show. 

Through thematic rooms, the exhibition shows that the works by Warhol and Haring from the 1970s and 1980s were created not only at a time of extreme sociopolitical tensions but are still highly topical today. Both artists’ exploration of excessive consumer culture, the possibilities of new media, queerness, fears of nuclear war, the AIDS epidemic and activism as well as the pursuit of community in times of crisis can be experienced in the exhibition. 

Numerous collaborations between Haring and Warhol are presented, as well as projects created in cooperation with artists, performers, authors, graffiti writers, and music and fashion icons of the time, including Richard Avedon, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Joseph Beuys, William S. Burroughs, Fab 5 Freddy, Futura, Courtney Harmel, Eric Haze, Jenny Holzer, Bill T. Jones, Grace Jones, LA II, Madonna, Robert Mapplethorpe, Malcolm McLaren, Yoko Ono, Tom Rubnitz, Kenny Scharf, John Sex, Stephen Shore, Tseng Kwong Chi, Vivienne Westwood and many more.

Andy Warhol & Keith Haring. Party of Life presents a large number of works from Museum Brandhorst’s comprehensive holdings, as well as significant loans from institutional and private collections. Films, photographs, archive material as well as posters, records and everyday objects complement the show and offer new perspectives on both Warhol and Haring. 

Curated by Franziska Linhardt in cooperation with Arthur Fink
Curatorial Assistant: Zakirah Rabaney

The exhibition is supported by
PIN. Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne e.V.
Allianz, Partner von PIN. Freunde der Pinakothek der Moderne e.V.

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