Andy Warhol, visual artist, film director, and producer was a leading figure in the artwork, with his works exploring the relationship between artistic expression and popular culture. His New York Studio, The Factory, was the hottest spot for artists, musicians, politicians, and celebrities in the 60s, 70s, and 80s- anyone who is anyone could be spotted there. But it was more than a party - it was a hot bed of serious creative activity, where work was created, and collaborations were born.

Warhol was already a prolific artist and personality by the time Basquiat and Haring arrived on the scene.

‘[Basquiat and Haring] lived and worked in the gritty streets of lower Manhattan in the 1970s and 80s. They partied and worked with Andy Warhol. They were DJs, friends, mutual admirers and rivals. At first, the streets and subways of New York City were their gallery walls, and their messages were overtly political. When they died they were famous. Today, they are megastars.’ [1]

In an interview that originally appeared in the 1984 edition of Andy Warhol’s Interview, Warhol and Haring said of Basquiat:

‘HARING: That wasn’t until 1981 or ’82. I didn’t start doing graffiti until two years after I got to New York. Jean Michel Basquiat was one of my main inspirations for doing graffiti. For a year I didn’t know who Jean Michel was, but I knew his work.

WARHOL: And he actually went around writing poems on the street?

HARING: Yes, it was like the first literary graffiti.

WARHOL: What are the kinds of things that he said?

HARING: Samo became a philosophy. “Samo” supposedly stood for same old shit. That was in the Mudd Club days.

WARHOL: Jean Michel is a really good writer. He writes beautiful poetry.’

Both Basquiat and Haring met Warhol formally in 1982, although the story goes that Warhol purchased a postcard from Basquiat during their first ever meeting for US$1 in 1979.

It wasn’t until 1982 that Basquiat and Warhol were formally introduced by mutual friend and art dealer Bruno Bischofberger. It was Bischofberger’s suggestion that the pair begin working together, and their collaboration not only placed Basquiat under a brighter spotlight than before but reinvigorated interested in Warhol.

Haring met Warhol at the same time: ‘I met (Warhol) finally through [photographer] Christopher Makos, who brought me to the Factory. At first, Warhol was very distant. It was difficult for him to be comfortable with people if he didn’t know them.’ [2]

From the start, Haring always acknowledged Warhol’s effect on his work.

‘You see, whatever I've done would not have been possible without Andy. Had Andy not broken the concept of what art is supposed to be, I just wouldn't have been able to exist.’ [3]

By 1980 Basquiat and Haring were two of the most favoured young artists in New York, the duo crossing the line from low art to high art with their works being shown in major galleries. Throughout the 80s, they collaborated with each other, and with Warhol, all with enormous impact on each other.

In an article by Tony Clayton, American Pop Specialist, she recorded:

‘In 1985, Basquiat described their collaboration, saying:

‘He would put something very concrete or recognizable, like a newspaper headline or a product logo, and then I would try and deface it, and then I would try and get him to work some more on it. I would try to get him to do at least two things, you know? He likes to do just one hit and then have me do all the work after that.’

In an interview, Warhol addressed his younger collaborator, joking: ‘We’re doing some work together, and you paint me out […] everything I’ve done you’ve painted me out’. [4]

Warhol made created a touching depiction of Haring and his partner Juan Dubose, described as capturing a definitive moment in the history of queer art, and which Haring understood as a moment in which ‘Warhol’s decision to paint him cemented his status as a celebrity.’ [5]

Haring created the character of ‘Andy Mouse’ for a suite of prints - a fusion of Andy Warhol and Mickey Mouse. ‘It’s treating him [Warhol] like he was part of American culture, like Mickey Mouse was. That he himself had become a symbol…’ [6]

Following a poor reception to an exhibition in 1985 (with the New York Times calling Basquiat Warhol’s ‘mascot’) the pair were seen less and less in public together, with no real reconciliation between Basquiat and Warhol before Warhol’s death in 1987.

Warhol was 58 when he passed away after gallbladder surgery with reports of his death echoing around the world. [7] It was less than two years later, in 1988 when Basquiat died from a drug overdose at 27.

Haring wrote in Vogue Magazine as part of an Obituary for his friend:

‘The supreme poet… Every action is symbolic, every gesture an event… Greedily we wonder what masterpieces we might have been cheated out of by his death… only now will people begin to understand the magnitude of his contribution.’[8]

Haring was diagnosed with HIV in 1987 and worked at a frenzied pace in his final years. The catalogue of work he created through his illness is among the estimated 10,000-plus pieces of art that would define his legacy for generations to come - which Haring himself predicted in a 1989 interview with his biographer: 

‘Those works that I’ve created are gonna stay here forever. There’s thousands of real people, not just museums and curators that have been affected and inspired and taught by the work that I’ve done,’ he said. ‘So, the work is gonna live on long past when I’m gonna be here.’ [9]

In 1990, 31-year-old Haring died from AIDS-related complications, the disease sweeping through New York hard and fast in the late 80s and early 90s.

There are lots of places to learn more about the trio (and see what their works - and relationship- have inspired). On Apple TV and Amazon you can watch Tamra Davis’ documentary Jean-Michel Basquiat: The Radiant Child. The Collaboration, a play by Anthony McCarten debuted recently at London’s Young Vic Theatre.

And of course, you can visit us at HOTA from Sat 18 Feb and experience our new exhibition, Pop Masters: Art from the Mugrabi Collection, New York, which expands on the legacy of Warhol, Basquiat and Haring and paints a picture of a Pop world, and how the Pop Art movement has evolved over the past six decades.