Banksy’s self-destructed artwork breaks artist’s record and sells for $25.4 million

Banksy’s self-destructed artwork breaks artist’s record and sells for $25.4 million

Banksy’s Girl with Balloon painting, which partially self-destructed during a London auction three years ago, was sold Thursday (14.10.2021) for 18.6 million pounds ($25.4 million or 21.8 million euros), a record for the British graffiti artist.

The work, renamed Love is in the Bin, surpassed the last record set in March by Game Changer, which was acquired by an anonymous buyer for £14.4 million.

The famous urban artist, whose identity remains a mystery, stunned the world at the auction that took place three years ago at Sotheby’s in London, the same auction house that auctioned what was left of the work this Thursday.

No sooner had the hammer sounded to award the painting to the highest bidder than a mechanism hidden in the frame shattered the lower part of the canvas, which depicts a girl releasing a heart-shaped balloon. Now only the balloon remains on a white background.

With this action, Banksy said he wanted to denounce the “commodification” of art.

In the statement announcing the sale, Sotheby’s described the destruction as the “most spectacular artistic happening of the 21st century”, framed “in the heritage of countercultural art that began with Dadaism and Marcel Duchamp“.

“Girl with Balloon” shows a girl reaching for a heart-shaped balloon. It is one of Banksy’s most famous works and has been reproduced numerous times since it first appeared on a wall in East London. Prior to the auction, the work will be shown in a traveling exhibition in London, Hong Kong, Taipei and New York. The true identity of its creator remains unknown to this day.