Apocalypse 1 (Littmann P. 101) by Keith Haring places Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa within a scene of destruction and renewal,

The central image is dominated by a vertical surge of vivid red—read as flame or blood—rising from a densely packed field of black figures below. This column of colour anchors the work, introducing a sense of rupture and intensity, while scattered red droplets across the white background suggest violence without resolving into narrative.

The juxtaposition establishes a direct tension between canonical art history and contemporary, with the Mona Lisa repositioned as both icon and witness. Produced at a moment when Haring’s work was becoming increasingly urgent and symbolically charged, Apocalypse 1 forms part of a broader shift toward more complex and layered imagery.

The portfolio’s title references the Book of Revelation, though Haring’s interpretation resists literal illustration, instead presenting collapse and renewal as intertwined forces within a continuous cycle. Formally, the work demonstrates Haring’s command of graphic structure. Bold black contours organise the surface, containing the intensity of the red pigment while directing the viewer’s eye upward through the work. The mass of figures below recalls his earlier subway drawings, but here they are compressed into a more unified field, suggesting collective presence rather than individual identity. The appropriation of the Mona Lisa operates with precision, not as parody but as a deliberate recontextualisation of a fixed cultural symbol.

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