On February 16 1990, Madonna’s close friend Keith Haring died.
Madonna shared this memory of their friendship:
“We were two odd birds in the same environment. I watched Keith come up from that street base, which is where I also came up from. I’ve always responded to Keith’s art. From the very beginning there was a lot of innocence and a joy that was coupled with a brutal awareness of the world. The fact is, there’s a lot of irony in Keith’s work, just as there’s a lot of irony in my work. And that’s what attracts me to his stuff. I mean, you have these bold colors and those childlike figures and a lot of babies, but if you really look at those works closely, they’re really very powerful and really scary.”
Even today, Madonna misses Keith! The Rebel Heart song Graffiti Heart is a tribute to him!