What to see at the NGV: Summer exhibitions of Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat

From 1 December, the National Gallery of Victoria will have two of the most influential artists of the 20th century on show.

NGV Haring Basquiat 2 — MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 17: Works sit on display as Tony Ellwood AM, Director of the National Gallery of Victoria and Dr Miranda Wallace, Senior Curator of International Exhibition Projects at the National Gallery of Victoria (unseen) announce the new summer blockbuster exhibition Keith Haring | Jean Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines at NGV International on April 17, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. The exhibition will open on 1 December 2019. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images for NGV)

Until 13 April 2020 and exclusive to Melbourne, the NGV will present more than 300 works in an exhibition that will offer new insights into Haring and Basquiat’s unique visual languages and the many intersections between their lives, practices and ideas.

This of course off the back of the NGV’s winter Friday Night Series, which in 2019 stars a tonne of leading and emerging singers and performers, really rounding out what the Gallery has to offer. Oh, and plenty of dumplings, courtesy of Hutong Dumpling Bar.

“We felt there’s been enough time to pause and reflect on just how powerful their (Haring and Basquiat’s) aesthetic has become worldwide, particularly in Melbourne, which is famed for its street art scene,” said Tony Elwood, director of the NGV.

NGV Haring Basquiat Tony Elwood — MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA – APRIL 17: Tony Ellwood AM, Director of the National Gallery of Victoria (NGV) poses as he announces the new summer blockbuster exhibition Keith Haring | Jean Michel Basquiat: Crossing Lines at NGV International on April 17, 2019 in Melbourne, Australia. The exhibition will open on 1 December 2019. (Photo by Scott Barbour/Getty Images for NGV)

The Gallery is known for their leading and renowned exhibits, which this year and to round-out summer, will highlight the artists’ idiosyncratic imagery, radical ideas and complex socio-political commentary that changed the art world of the 1980s.

See more about the exhibitions on now and in summer at the NGV at the Gallery’s website.