Silence = Death

Medium: Screenprint in colors on heavy wove paper
Year: 1989
Image: 33×33 inches (83.8 x 83.8 cm)
Sheet: 39×39 inches (99.1 x 99.1 cm)
Edition: 200
Artist’s Proofs: 25 AP
Publisher: George Mulder Fine Arts, New York, for the Arts Outreach Fund for AIDS
Publisher: The Outreach Fund for AIDS
Literature: Littmann p. 152

Signed, dated and numbered  in pencil with the publisher’s copyright ink stamp verso and the artist’s iguana blindstamp

Silence Equals Death is a remarkable work completed in the final year of the Keith Haring’s life. The work is an adaptation of the iconic political poster for the Silence=Death Project, a collective from which the title of this work is derived. This poster, which featured a bright pink triangle atop a solid black background, was a central image in the organization’s activist campaign against the AIDS epidemic.

The image of the pink triangle was first used by Nazi Germany to identify gay men and transgender women. It has since been reclaimed by the LGBTQ community as a symbol of gay pride. Haring’s version of the prominent poster features a large pink triangle that dominates nearly the entire composition and is surrounded by solid black. Renderings in silver ink of numerous figures which illustrate the pictorial maxim “hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil” are overlaid across the entire composition.

This work expresses extreme discontent with the silence of the Reagan administration’s suppression of discussion of the AIDS crisis which caused thousands of deaths in the queer community. This work was completed one year after the artist’s tragic AIDS diagnosis and just months before his death in 1990.

Auction Results

Heritage Auctions: 24 October 2023
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 50,000
USD 65,625

KEITH HARING
Silence = Death, 1989
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Signed, editioned 67/100 and dated in pencil, lower right

XXXXXXXXXX

Swann Galleries: 26 July 2023
Estimated: USD 30,000 – 40,000
USD 65,000

KEITH HARING
Silence = Death, 1989
Color screen-print on smooth wove paper
Signed, dated and numbered 152/200 in pencil, lower right
With an iguana blind stamp, lower left

XXXXXXXXXX

Rago: 16 June 2021
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 38,400

KEITH HARING (1958–1990)
Silence Equals Death, 1989
Screenprint in colors
Signed, dated and numbered to lower edge ‘HC 15/25 K. Haring 89’
This work is hors commerce 15 of 25 apart from the edition of 200
Published by the Outreach Fund for AIDS

XXXXXXXXXX

Leonard Joel: 29 July 2020
Estimated: AUD 20,000 – 30,000
AUD 48,000 / USD 34,405

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Silence = Death, 1989
Screenprint
Editioned 84/200, signed and dated below image

XXXXXXXXXX

Koller Zurich: 7 December 2019
Estimated: CHF 15,000 – 25,000
CHF 32,020 / USD 32,225

KEITH HARING (Reading 1958 – 1990 New York)
Silence = Death, 1989
Color screenprint on wove paper
Edition: 11/200
Signed, dated and with the artist’s signet in pencil lower right: K. Haring’89
With the copyright stamp on the reverse: Keith Haring 1989 George Mulder Fine Arts

XXXXXXXXXX

Christie’s New-York: 24 October 2018
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 25,000
USD 43,750

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Silence = Death, 1989
Screen-print in colors on heavy wove paper
Signed and dated in pencil, numbered 93/200
(there were also 25 artist’s proofs)

XXXXXXXXXX

Sotheby’s New-York: 22 October 2018
Estimated: USD 18,000 – 24,000
USD 25,000

KEITH HARING
Silence = Death (L. p. 152), 1989
Screen-print in colors on heavy wove paper
Signed in pencil, dated and numbered 115/200
(total edition includes 25 artist’s proofs)

XXXXXXXXXX

Bonhams Los Angeles: 1 May 2018
Estimated: USD 18,000 – 25,000
USD 25,000

KEITH HARING (1958-1990)
Silence = Death (L. p. 152), 1989
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Signed in pencil, dated and numbered 158/200
Published by the Outreach Fund for AIDS

XXXXXXXXXX

Silence = Death (AP 5/25), 1989
Sotheby’s New-York: 27 April 2018
Estimated: USD 12,000 – 18,000
USD 23,750

XXXXXXXXXX

Silence = Death (29/200), 1989
Heritage Auctions: 23 October 2017
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 20,625

XXXXXXXXXX

Silence = Death (36/200), 1989
Sotheby’s New-York: 28 April 2017
Estimated: USD 12,000 – 18,000
USD 22,500

XXXXXXXXXX

Silence = Death (118/200), 1989
Christie’s New-York: 20 April 2017
Estimated: USD 12,000 – 18,000
USD 30,000

XXXXXXXXXX

Silence = Death (171/200), 1989
Van Ham Cologne: 30 November 2016
Estimated: EUR 8,000 – 12,000
EUR 13,750 / USD 14,550

XXXXXXXXXX

Silence = Death (51/200), 1989
Phillips New-York: 21 April 2015
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 22,500