Pop Shop V (D, (Littmann P. 149) by Keith Haring is a vivid interaction between one of Haring’s dolphin figures and an orange dancing figure set against a saturated purple ground.

The image is built from a small number of simplified forms — dolphin, figure, waves and motion marks — yet carries a strong sense of movement and rhythm. The orange figure sits upon the dolphin as they ride through stylised teal water, while black radiating lines animate the scene with the immediacy associated with Haring’s subway drawings and street practice.

The vivid purple background gives the work a more surreal and dreamlike atmosphere than many earlier Pop Shop prints, heightening the visual contrast between the flattened colour fields. Throughout Haring’s later work, dolphin imagery introduced a more fluid and playful counterpoint to the urban tension often associated with his barking dogs and densely packed figures.

In Pop Shop V (D), the relationship between the human and marine forms suggests movement, freedom and connection, themes that recur throughout the Pop Shop V portfolio. Haring reduces the scene to its essential, allowing gesture, colour and rhythm to communicate instantly without narrative complexity.

By 1989, Haring’s had achieved extraordinary refinement, and works such as Pop Shop V (D) demonstrate his ability to generate emotional energy through radically simplified imagery. Combining movement, colour and instantly recognisable motifs, the print remains a strong example of the optimism and accessibility that continue to define the most sought-after works from Haring’s Pop Shop series.

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