Monkey Puzzle 1988

Keith Haring made this vibrant painting, Monkey Puzzle, with thick black outlines and blocks of primary color, so that even from a distance, you can feel the rhythm and energy of figures in motion. I imagine Haring layering each color one by one, carefully filling in the outlines, thinking about how each tone changes the mood of the scene. There’s something playful and generous about it. It's like he’s saying, ‘Hey, come join the party, the dance, the puzzle!’ The more I look, the more I think about how Haring used the surface of the painting as a stage, a space of community and shared experience, the figures stacked together, joyful, intimate. I think of other image-makers who mix the graphic and the immediate, like Matisse, or Fernand Léger. Keith Haring is part of an ongoing conversation about color, line, and the stories we tell with our bodies. What do you see? What story do you want to tell?