Montreux Yellow/Blue is a stunning print by American artist Keith Haring. The composition is one poster of a trio that was created to honor the Montreux Jazz Festival, the second most popular annual jazz festival that has been held in Switzerland since 1967. Haring’s engagement in the festival reached beyond the creation of the 1983 posters; the artist also experienced the fête firsthand and was spotted painting t-shirts and murals, leaving his personal touch on the municipality of Montreux. Also later in 1986, Haring collaborated with Andy Warhol to produce a poster that marked the 20th anniversary of the festival.

Montreux Yellow/Blue is an elated visual representation of jazz music that radiates with a brilliance reminiscent of the sound of bright, tenor sax. Haring’s signature bold linework and cartoonish gestural lines capture the spontaneity of the genre and establish a sense of play and abandon that is commonly associated with jazz music. The subject of the composition, a character with the spine of a bendy-straw, undulates to a tune that exists within the world of the poster and exudes a contagious joy that invites the viewer to toe-tap along. Haring’s sunset palette and “Lake Geneva Blue” border, a product of his keen grasp of the soulful influence of color, harmonize with the sprightly energy of the figure and evoke the feeling of a warm sunset on the water. Montreux Yellow/Blue, like the festival that inspired it, is a celebration of art, common interests, freedom of spirit, and unity that is exemplary of Keith Haring’s ability to translate any facet of the human experience into vivid and universal visual expressions.