Moses and the Burning Bush
Moses and the Burning Bush
Artist
Keith Haring
(1958 - 1990)
Date1985
MediumAcrylic on canvas
Dimensions117 × 144 in. (297.2 × 365.8 cm)
ClassificationsPainting
Credit LineCrystal Bridges Museum of American Art, Bentonville, Arkansas, in honor of Don Bacigalupi, Museum Director and President (2009 – 2015), for his exemplary leadership and unerring belief in the power of art to transform lives and communities, 2014.9
Signedverso: JULY 5 1985 "MOSES + THE BURNING BUSH" © K. Haring NYC 85
Accession number
2014.9
On View
Not on viewCollections
Label TextKeith Haring grew up in a devout Protestant family. Although the artist left the church as a teen, religious themes persisted in his later work. This painting refers to the Old Testament story of Moses and the burning bush, in which God chose the prophet to free the Hebrews and lead them out of Egypt. The image is difficult to see due to abstract yellow and black marks snaking across the picture. The work is loosely inspired by Christian imagery but, like Haring himself, it is not ultimately bound to Christian ideologies.
As a graffiti artist based in New York City during the early 1980s, Haring developed a style that was instantly recognizable. His simplified outlines of people and animals, which first appeared in chalk on subway walls, developed into a bold, bright style in later paintings, murals, and sculptures. An activist in his art and life, Haring engaged with events and issues that marked the 1980s, such as war, religion, sexuality, and the AIDS crisis.
