Keith Haring was part of the legendary New York art scene of the 1980s, which included stars from various artistic disciplines. Haring repeatedly worked with Andy Warhol, Jean-Michel Basquiat, L.A. II, Madonna and Grace Jones. In this creative environment, he developed his unique style early on, which was primarily inspired by graffiti and Pop Art. His most famous motifs include cartoon-like stick figures, babies, barking dogs, robots and beating hearts. Haring used them to react to the social upheavals of his time. The looming threat of nuclear war, the AIDS epidemic, the consequences of excessive consumer culture and social division were omnipresent. Haring’s drawings in the New York underground stations, his murals on the Berlin Wall, his designs for record covers and the sculpture Untitled (Boxers), are to be understood as visual responses to these crises. With his art, the artist encouraged more empathy, community and respect. His motifs are still relevant today.
The Untitled (Boxers), sculpture was created in 1987 and acquired for the Mercedes-Benz Art Collection in 1996. From the mid-1990s until 2025, it stood at Potsdamer Platz in Berlin. In 2025, it will be installed on the roundabout between the Mercedes-Benz Museum and the Mercedes-Benz Group AG headquarters in Stuttgart-Untertürkheim. Here it acts as a visible symbol of Mercedes-Benz’s social commitment to art, culture and Stuttgart.
