Keith Haring's Lost Rome Graffiti: Two Murals Erased by City Authorities

Keith Haring created two graffiti works in Rome during the early 1980s, both later painted over by the city government. The first was a red-toned pattern featuring his iconic barking dog motif on the facade of Palazzo delle Esposizioni, made in 1984 during his exhibition 'Arte di frontiera.' The second, a six-by-two-meter piece, appeared on the noise barriers of Ponte Nenni where Metro A crosses the Tiber River. The mural at Palazzo delle Esposizioni was covered in 1992 under Mayor Carraro's administration to clean the city ahead of Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev's visit for the centenary of the Italian Socialist Party. The Ponte Nenni work was erased in July 2000 under Mayor Rutelli's administration to clear the view of the Tiber, ten years after Haring's death. Photographs by Stefano Fontebasso De Martino document the works' brief existence. Haring also created other works in Italy, including the permanent mural 'Tuttomondo' in Pisa (1989), a decoration for Elio Fiorucci's Milan store, and a mural at the After Dark club in Milan that was also covered but possibly recoverable.