Apocalypse 3
Apocalypse 3
Signed Print
Keith Haring
£8,500-£12,500 VALUE (EST.)
$16,000-$23,000 VALUE (EST.)
$14,500-$21,000 VALUE (EST.)
¥70,000-¥110,000 VALUE (EST.)
€9,500-€14,000 VALUE (EST.)
$80,000-$120,000 VALUE (EST.)
¥1,370,000-¥2,020,000 VALUE (EST.)
$10,500-$15,000 VALUE (EST.)
This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
Screenprint, 1988
Signed Print Edition of 90
H 96cm x W 96cm
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Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Artwork | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| March 2022 | Christie's London - United Kingdom | Apocalypse 3 - Signed Print | |||
| September 2021 | Bonhams Los Angeles - United States | Apocalypse 3 - Signed Print | |||
| March 2021 | Forum Auctions London - United Kingdom | Apocalypse 3 - Signed Print | |||
| August 2020 | Forum Auctions London - United Kingdom | Apocalypse 3 - Signed Print | |||
| December 2017 | Forum Auctions London - United Kingdom | Apocalypse 3 - Signed Print | |||
| September 2016 | Sotheby's London - United Kingdom | Apocalypse 3 - Signed Print | |||
| November 2009 | Bonhams San Francisco - United States | Apocalypse 3 - Signed Print |
Meaning & Analysis
Apocalypse 3 is a signed screen print from Keith Haring’s dynamic Apocalypse series (1988) that provides the viewer with a hellish visual narrative of the AIDS epidemic and the end of the world. This print shows a phallocentric universe depicted in bold lines, splatters of primary colour and harsh gestural marks to convey a sense of violence and chaos.
A giant phallus hangs over the scene of deformed figures, ‘devil sperm’, planes, army vehicles and a set of stairs that anchor the composition. The central image is a collaged 1950s-era magazine clipping showing a mother feeding her child, used by Haring to create a dialogue between dissimilar worlds and shock the viewer. Haring uses his linear style to draw on top of the image and contextualise the mother and child within the chaotic scene, notably adding mitre-like headdresses on the figures that renders the figures sacred. The image also shows the tail of the ‘devil sperm’ infecting the child’s milk bottle, alluding to the transmission of HIV from mother to child during the epidemic.
Producing a social commentary on the stigmas surrounding the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Haring’s line drawings directly relate death and danger to sexuality and promiscuity. By placing the clipping of mother and child within the print, Haring creates a jarring image that dissolves boundaries between ‘good’ and ‘evil’, and injects a moment of purity into the violent scene.
