A Keith Haring Experience at Hotel de la Ville, Rome
Hotel de la Ville Becomes Cultural Partner of the Keith Haring Exhibition in Rome
At Hotel de la Ville, the relationship with Rome extends beyond its address. The hotel acts as a gateway to the city’s cultural life, connecting guests with the people, places, stories and creative energy that continue to shape Rome today.
As Cultural Partner of the Keith Haring exhibition at Museo di Roma, Hotel de la Ville will create a series of experiences that bring the exhibition beyond the museum walls, combining privileged access, curatorial encounters, a dedicated exploration of Haring’s relationship with Rome and an evening experience at Cielo Bar inspired by the artist.
“What makes Rome extraordinary is its ability to be a symbol, a tribute to history while opening its doors to the new and the contemporary. At Hotel de la Ville, we want to propose this to our guests, giving them access to the places, the people and the experiences that make the city what it is today. Becoming Cultural Partner of the Keith Haring exhibition allows us to do exactly that: to open another door onto Rome, connecting a story from the city’s past with the creativity that continues to shape its present.” Anna Gricini, General Manager, Hotel de la Ville.
The exhibition traces Haring’s artistic journey from his early work in New York and the iconic Subway Drawings to his political posters, sculptures, paintings and final works. Throughout his career, Haring expanded his visual language while remaining true to one simple conviction: art should be accessible to everyone. Radiant babies, barking dogs, dancing figures, angels, hearts, televisions and pyramids are more than recurring motifs. Together, they form a universal visual language that continues to speak across different cultures and generations. More than 140 works and materials and exploring the artist’s career, from his Subway Drawings and early street work to his political posters, paintings, sculptures and later works. Curated by Kaoru Yanase, Ilaria Miarelli Mariani and Claudio Zambianchi, the exhibition places particular emphasis on Haring’s relationship with Italy and Rome.
For guests staying in the Hotel de la Ville’s Suites, this will include the opportunity to experience the exhibition through exclusive after-hours visits to Palazzo Braschi, when the museum is closed to the public. Accompanied by members of the exhibition’s curatorial team, guests will encounter Haring’s work in an intimate setting and gain insight into the research, stories and ideas behind the exhibition.
The experience is conceived in the spirit of Hotel de la Ville itself: not simply as a place from which to see Rome, but as a place through which to enter it.
Haring After Dark at Cielo Rooftop
The story then returns to Hotel de la Ville. Set on Via Sistina, just above the Spanish Steps, the hotel occupies a historic Roman palazzo whose courtyards, interiors and terraces create a distinctly Roman setting, while its rooftop opens onto the city itself.
At the top of the hotel, Cielo Bar looks across Rome’s rooftops and domes. For the occasion, its bar becomes the setting for a new interpretation of Haring’s visual language, translated not into decoration, but into taste. Simone Di Serio, Director of Mixology, created a selection of cocktails inspired by Keith Haring, drawing on the artist’s energy, movement, colour and sense of play. The drinks will avoid simply reproducing Haring’s imagery. Instead, they will interpret the qualities of his work through unexpected combinations, contrasts, texture and graphic presentation creating a cocktail experience that feels spontaneous, immediate and distinctly contemporary.
More than forty years after the artist had visited Rome, Hotel de la Ville invites its guests to follow that trace, encounter the exhibition through a different lens, and then continue into the Rome that exists around it. Because Rome is a city that keeps revealing itself.
Read our review of Hotel de la Ville here.
“Becoming Cultural Partner of the Keith Haring exhibition allows us to do exactly that: to open another door onto Rome, connecting a story from the city’s past with the creativity that continues to shape its present.”
