Name: The Story Of Red And Blue 2
Brand: Keith Haring
Rating: 5 (234 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of Keith Haring's The Story Of Red And Blue 2 (signed) is estimated to be worth between £1,550 and £2,350. Over the past 12 months, the artwork has sold once at an average selling price of £1,948. This lithograph print, created in 1989, has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 8%. This work is somewhat rare, having been sold 3 times at auction since its initial sale in May 2013. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 90.

Auction Date

Auction House

Location

Hammer Price

Return to Seller

Buyer Paid

June 2024

Koller Geneva

Switzerland

December 2015

Artcurial

France

May 2013

Kaupp Auktions House

Germany

Meaning & Analysis

The Story Of Red And Blue 2 from 1989 is a signed colour lithograph in a limited edition of 90. This print is part of Keith Haring's The Story Of Red And Blue series.

Presented in the form of a children’s story book, this series is representative of Haring’s desire to create a visual language that appealed to both children and adults alike. Throughout the series he limits his colour palette to bright red and blue and renders each image in his distinctive linear style with black rounded lines.

The Story Of Red And Blue 2 shows a line drawing portrait of a baby looking up at a mouse on its head, depicted through bright blue paint with its features drawn on top in black. This is a playful and appealing image that is reminiscent of traditional children’s story book illustrations, however throughout the series there seems not to be any cohesive storyline.

Across the first half of the series, each print alternates in colour between red and blue and by the end of the series the two colours appear together in the prints. In each print Haring uses simplified and generic pictograms to produce the effect of a children’s story book without a sensical storyline, where instead this story seems to focus abstractly on the colours red and blue.

Keith Haring was a luminary of the 1980s downtown New York scene. His distinctive visual language pioneered one-line Pop Art drawings and he has been famed for his colourful, playful imagery. Haring's iconic energetic motifs and figures were dedicated to influencing social change, and particularly challenging stigma around the AIDS epidemic. Haring also pushed for the accessibility of art by opening Pop Shops in New York and Japan, selling a range of ephemera starting from as little as 50 cents. Haring's legacy has been cemented in the art-activism scene and is a testament to power of art to inspire social change