Keith Haring was born in Pennsylvania in 1958.
After spending his teenage years in Pittsburgh, he moved to New York, where he came into contact with new artists and currents of thought similar to his own. Also in New York, he studied at the School of Visual Art, without finishing it because he immediately became part of the New York art scene.

During his life Keith Haring was strongly influenced by the works of Andy Warhol and artists such as Picasso, Pollock and Klee, but it was his encounters with Pierre Alechinsky and Jean-Michel Basquiat that inspired him to create his works.

His most successful moment was in 1986, when he opened the Pop Shop in SoHo, a shop where everyone could buy his works and merchandising, consisting of gadgets and t-shirts on which his works were represented.

During those years, the artist contracted the HIV virus. AIDS was an issue that was very close to Keith Haring’s heart. In 1985, he created a painting about it and set up the Haring Foundation to continue his work and support organisations dedicated to children and the fight against AIDS.