Icons 5
By Keith Haring, 1990
This joyful yellow figure with wings spread wide captures the instantly recognizable style of Keith Haring, the artist who brought subway graffiti into the gallery world during the 1980s. With its bold black outlines, radiating lines above the head suggesting energy or divinity, and that characteristic sense of movement, this winged person seems to dance through space. Haring used simple, cartoon-like figures to communicate big ideas about love, community, and spirituality, making art that anyone could understand at a glance.
Haring believed art should be accessible to everyone, not just people who visited fancy museums. He started by drawing in New York subway stations with chalk, creating thousands of images that commuters would see for free. This winged figure, part of his "Icons" series, shows his interest in universal symbols that cross cultural boundaries. Whether you see it as an angel, a celebration of human spirit, or just pure joy in motion, the image radiates the optimistic energy that made Haring's work so beloved before his death from AIDS in 1990 at just 31 years old.