Anti-Nuclear Rally is a lithograph poster by Keith Haring from 1982. Along with his successful career as a pop artist, Haring was also engaged in social and political activism. In protest of nuclear weapons, Haring participated in the Rally for Nuclear Disarmament in Central Park in New York City on June 2nd, 1982. Staying true to his philosophy about universal accessibility to art, Haring brought 20,000 copies of this poster, sometimes referred to as Poster for Nuclear Disarmament, and distributed them at no cost. Today, few original copies of the poster exist, and the remaining edition size is unknown. Haring’s initiative to self-publish these posters further speaks to his urgent passion for activism and grassroots movements.

The black and white lithograph is divided horizontally into two sections. The bottom half of his work evokes tension and anger with figures running with weapons and a harsh “X” central in the face of what appears to be a power-hungry perpetrator of nuclear war. The top half depicts the aftermath of the violence, with a cloud of nuclear fallout expanding towards the heavens surrounded by angel-like figures. Keith Haring’s commonly seen Radiant Baby figure is caught in the destruction, serving to portray the cruel loss of innocent life due to nuclear weapons. Moreover, the artist commented that his baby motif represents the future, and the potential we have as human beings to form a more pure and benevolent culture.

Anti-Nuclear Rally was Keith Haring’s first poster.