Banksy’s reimagining of Monet smashes expectations at auction

lifestyle
Banksy’s Reimagining Of Monet Smashes Expectations At Auction
Banksy, © PA Wire/PA Images
Share this article

By Keiran Southern, PA

Banksy’s reimagining of Claude Monet’s Impressionist water lilies has fetched more than £7.5 million (€8.3 million) at auction, easily surpassing expectations.

Show Me The Monet was created in 2005 and adds abandoned shopping trolleys and a traffic cone to the famous garden scene.

Advertisement

It was sold at a Sotheby’s event in London on Wednesday following a near nine-minute battle between five collectors, the auction house said.

Banksy
Banksy’s reimagining of Claude Monet’s impressionist water lilies has fetched more than £7.5 million at auction, easily surpassing expectations (Kirsty O’Connor/PA)

It fetched £7,551,600 against an expectation of between £3.5-5 million.

The painting is the second most expensive Banksy sold at auction, after the reclusive artist’s Devolved Parliament sold for £9.9 million last year.

Advertisement

Show Me The Monet forms part of a series titled Crude Oil, which “remixes” canonical works.

Lifestyle
Banksy confirms new hula hoop mural is his work
Read More

The series also includes Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers wilting or dead in their vase, Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks confronted by an angry man in Union Jack boxer shorts and Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe re-faced with Kate Moss.

Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s European head of contemporary art, said: “In one of his most important paintings, Banksy has taken Monet’s iconic depiction of the Japanese bridge in the Impressionist master’s famous garden at Giverny and transformed it into a modern-day fly-tipping spot.

“More canal than idyllic lily pond, Banksy litters Monet’s composition with discarded shopping trollies and a fluorescent orange traffic cone.

“Ever prescient as a voice of protest and social dissent, here Banksy shines a light on society’s disregard for the environment in favour of the wasteful excesses of consumerism.”

Read More

Message submitting... Thank you for waiting.

Want us to email you top stories each lunch time?

Download our Apps
© BreakingNews.ie 2024, developed by Square1 and powered by PublisherPlus.com