37 Originals sold at auction in 2021 for a total of
GBP 106,219,221 / USD 146,098,990
The highest total ever achieved at auction in a calendar year
This compares to a total of just over USD 34 million for the 12 lots sold in 2020.
Sotheby’s keeps the lead position with 14 lots sold for GBP 50,207,089 / USD 68,752,370, but closely followed by Christie’s with 12 lots sold amounting to a total of GBP 45,646,926 / USD 62,980,975.
Love Is In The Bin (2018) sold at Sotheby’s London on 14 October 2021 for a record GBP 18,852,000 (USD 25,457,340), just about three years after Girl with Balloon (2006) sold for GBP 1,042,000 (USD 1,365,482) at Sotheby’ London on 5 October 2018 and was shredded live in front of a flabbergasted audience.
Game Changer (2020) sold at Christie’s London on 23 March 2021 for GBP 16,758,000 (USD 23,210,000); the second highest price ever paid at auction for a Banksy original. All funds to benefit the NHS.
The third most expensive lot of 2021 is a painting from Banksy’s Crude Oils series, Sunflowers from Petrol Station (2005), sold for GBP 10,783,704 (USD 14,558,000).
Love Is In the Air (2005), a version on canvas of Banksy’s iconic visual sold at Sotheby’s New-York on 12 May 2021 for USD 12,903,000. Another version, Love Is In the Air (2006), this time in an edition of 15 on canvas, sold at Sotheby’s New-York on 18 November 2021 for USD 8,077,200.
Monkeys remain a collector’s favorite, with 9 Banksy originals featuring a monkey sold in 2021 for a total of GBP 14,352,946 / USD 19,824,506.
Barely Legal, held in Los Angeles in 2006, was the most important show of Banksy in the US, and it substantially increased the artist’s notoriety globally. 3 paintings exhibited at Barely Legal sold at auction in 2021 for a total value of GBP 11,918,778 (USD 16,438,400).
Some works such as Kate Moss, Fallen Angel, London New-York Bristol (Monkey) or Tortoise Helmet were bought in in June 2021, which is quite unusual for Banksy at auction. But, obviously as more and more originals are being auctioned off, it appears quite normal for the number of bought-in lots to increase. As it is the case for all artists, whether dead or alive, some artworks or series are more desirable than others, and are more valuable than others…
#1. Love Is In The Bin
GBP 18,852,000 / USD 25,457,340
Sotheby’s London, 14 October 2021
NEW WORLD RECORD AT AUCTION
Undermining the establishment has always been at the heart of Banksy’s work, indeed, taking the artworld down a peg or two has particular currency in his imagery and ideology. It should therefore have come as no surprise that Banksy would mastermind perhaps the most extraordinary and elaborate feat of artistic subterfuge in recent history: the moment Girl with Balloon ‘self-destructed’ at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction on 5 October 2018. But of course, this wasn’t an act of destruction, it was a moment of creation, a metamorphosis that transformed Banksy’s Girl with Balloon into an entirely new work of art…
Love Is In The Bin, 2018
Spray-paint and acrylic on canvas mounted on board, framed by the artist
142x78x18 cm (60 x 30 7/8 x 7 inches)
Signed on the reverse
Hidden within the ornate gilded frame surrounding Banksy’s famous spray-painted image was a shredding mechanism that began whirring and beeping as soon as Oliver Barker hammered down the gavel on the winning GBP 1,042,000 bid: a gobsmacked, audience looked on as the canvas began to pass through the frame in neatly cut strips. By the time the work was removed from view by Sotheby’s technicians, the machinery had stopped shredding halfway through the composition; a malfunction unexpected by the artist who, on his Instagram, claimed that ‘it worked in rehearsals every time’.
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Not knowing what was to come, Sotheby’s had placed the work at the end of one of the phone banks in a position reserved for works set to achieve high prices – a spot that played right into the artist’s hands as the event was immortalized on camera. In the days and weeks that followed Banksy’s shredded canvas became a cultural phenomenon: 30,000 news stories ensued globally, and the infamous painting became the subject of memes, political cartoons, protest placards, fridge magnets and t-shirts, to name only a few imaginative uses. It has since been exhibited at the Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden and more recently at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. Its impact on the latter’s visitor numbers was substantial, and further reinforces the power of this image and its mysterious author.
#2. Game Changer
GBP 16,758,000 / USD 23,210,000
Christie’s London, 23 March 2021
On 6 May 2020, during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, a painting entitled Game Changer appeared at University Hospital Southampton. In crisp, linear detail, it showed a young boy playing with a selection of superhero dolls. This is a fine example of Banksy using his talent and platform to advance a philanthropic effort. He gifted the canvas to Southampton General Hospital, and the proceeds from the sale were used to support the wellbeing of the University Hospital’s staff and patients.
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In Game Changer, Batman and Spiderman lie discarded in a bin; instead, the child clutches his new idol – a new superhero, better than the ones we see on TV and in cinema. A masked, uniformed nurse soars to the rescue, her cape fluttering and arm outstretched towards the sky. The picture was accompanied by a note that read:
‘Thanks for all you’re doing.
I hope this brightens the place up a bit, even if it’s only black and white.’
#3. Sunflowers from Petrol Station
USD 14,558,000
Christie’s New-York, 9 November 2021
Held for its entire life in the collection of legendary British fashion designer Sir Paul Smith, Sunflowers from Petrol Station is an icon within Banksy’s oeuvre. Witty, irreverent and subversive, it offers a wry reimagining of Vincent van Gogh’s celebrated Sunflowers, transforming the Dutch master’s radiant yellow blooms into a cluster of dried, wilted stems.
Sunflowers from Petrol Station, 2005
Oil on canvas in artist’s frame
102.6 x 87.5 cm (40 5/8 x 34 3/8 inches)
Signed ‘Banksy’, center left
Further signed and dated ‘BANKSY OCOTBER 2005’, on the stretcher
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Acquired by Smith directly from the exhibition, it is an outstanding demonstration of Banksy’s virtuosity as a painter, and his acerbic flair as a satirist. Through the comedic pathos of withered petrol station flowers—a modern-day memento mori—the artist implicates the pollution of both art and nature at the hands of consumerism: neither, he warns, will last forever in its clutches. Against a backdrop of thickly-wrought impasto, dead petals accumulate around the base of the vase, which bears the artist’s name—in place of Van Gogh’s—in blue lettering.
#4. Love Is In the Air
USD 12,903,000
Sotheby’s New-York, 12 May 2021
Love is in the Air is a quintessential Banksy painting. Instantly recognizable, the image has become synonymous with the artist’s indelible graphic style, wry humor and galvanizing political commentary. Banksy’s subject adopts the archetypal pose of civic unrest, preparing to hurl a brick or bomb towards an unseen foe.
Love Is In the Air, 2005
Oil and spray-paint on canvas
90×90 cm (35 3/8 x 36 3/8 inches)
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One of the artist’s most cherished works on canvas, further distinguished by the inclusion of hand painted flowers in oil, Love is in the Air is a work that reminds us of the injustice and inequality that exists around us, and offers a simple message of hope. It is indisputable that this bold and declarative work helped to establish Banksy’s place in art history, cementing his reputation as a pivotal and universally heard artistic voice.
#5. Love Is In the Air
Sotheby’s New-York, 18 November 2021
USD 8,077,200
Love Is In the Air, 2006
Oil and spray-paint on canvas
90×90 cm (35 3/8 x 36 3/8 inches)
Tagged on the turnover edge
Signed, dated ‘May 2006’ and numbered 13/15 (on the overlap)
#6. Trolley Hunters
USD 6,698,400
Sotheby’s New-York, 18 November 2021
Featured in Barely Legal, Banksy’s seminal 2006 exhibition in Los Angeles that triggered widespread acclaim and recognition for the artist, Trolley Hunters is the perfect incarnation of Banksy’s distinctive marriage of street art, graffiti and satire. Featuring three prehistoric men in a desert, the atmosphere of Trolley Hunters is both eerie and lighthearted, its illustrative style belying the acerbic humor and depth of meaning of the painting.
Trolley Hunters, 2006
Oil and emulsion on canvas
137 x 214 cm (53 7/8 x 84 1/4 inches)
Tagged (lower right)
Further signed and dated ‘1 August 2006’ (on the overlap)
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Holding various weapons, the three men pictured are poised to attack. The targets of their attack are, in typical Banksy fashion, trolleys – or shopping carts. The poignancy of the resulting work is twofold; firstly in its timeless critique of capitalism, and secondly in its unique and unexpected resonance today. The trolley, comic in its incongruity, nods to our consumer society’s predilection for, and reliance on, highly processed, branded packaged food products, and our inability to fend for ourselves.
#7. Subject to Availability
GBP 4,582,500 / USD 6,350,000
Christie’s London, 30 June 2021
Witty, satirical and timely, Subject to Availability is an important work from Banksy’s celebrated series of vandalized oil paintings. Hijacking an 1890 painting of Mount Rainier in Seattle by the German-American artist Albert Bierstadt, Banksy inserts an asterisk next to the dormant volcano at the center of the composition, captioning it ‘*subject to availability for a limited period only’.
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#8. Sale Ends Today
USD 6,060,000
Christie’s Hong-Kong, 24 May 2021
Created in 2006, Sale Ends Today plays out Banksy’s irreverent humor on an epic scale. Across a vast white canvas more than four meters wide, he uses his trademark stencil technique to depict four kneeling women, who variously pray, collapse or throw up their hands in attitudes of lament.
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Wearing voluminous robes and veils, they would be at home as mourners in an Old Masterly portrayal of the deposition of Christ. Rather than the messiah, however, the object of the women’s distress is a more secular icon: a large red sign with white block capitals reading ‘SALE ENDS TODAY.’ With this wry parody of art history’s most storied subject matter, Banksy makes a biting comment on contemporary consumerism, which, he implies, rivals the zeal of religious devotion.
#9. Girl with Balloon (Diptych)
Christie’s London, 15 October 2021
GBP 3,042,500 / USD 4,168,225
Girl with Balloon (Diptych), 2005
Spray paint on canvas, in two parts
Each: 30.2 x 30.2 cm (11 7/8 x 11 7/8 inches)
Tagged ‘BANKSY’ (on the overlap)
Signed and dated ‘BANKSY 5/9/05‘ (on the stretcher)
Numbered ‘6/25’ (on the stretcher)
#10. Original Concept For Barely Legal Poster (After Demi Moore)
GBP 2,677,000 / USD 3,670,000
Sotheby’s London, 25 March 2021
Created in 2006 and used as the poster image for the artist’s landmark LA exhibition in September that year, Original Concept for Barely Legal Poster (After Demi Moore) is Banksy at his most outrageous. Featured on advertisements pasted around the city in the days leading up to the exhibition, this image was the perfect emblem for Banksy’s breakthrough US show: Barely Legal.
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#11. Laugh Now
GBP 2,435,000 / USD 3,370,000
Sotheby’s London, 29 June 2021
A majority of Banksy’s works available on the market have been executed on canvas. The artist is at his best when combining his scathing, jet-black humor with a material that reflects the aesthetic of urban life and the authenticity of his intentions. Outside of the Think Tank series on metal panels commissioned by the pop band Blur, examples of his signature stencils on metal are incredibly rare and highly sought after.
Laugh Now, 2006
Spray-paint on metal
129.5 x 91 cm (51 x 35 7/8 inches)
Signed and dated on the reverse
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#12. Laugh Now Panel A
USD 3,150,000
Phillips Hong Kong, 5 June 2021
Rendered in his signature monochrome stenciled style, Laugh Now Panel A is immediately recognizable as one of Banksy’s most iconic motifs, featuring a forlorn monkey with slumped shoulders wearing a sandwich board that bears the foreboding pledge, “Laugh now, but one day we’ll be in charge.” As a culturally formidable image that conveys more than it initially may suggest, the present work masterfully encapsulates Banksy’s ability to distil complex statements into a powerful means of artistic expression.
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#13. Gas Mask Boy
GBP 2,200,500 / USD 3,030,000
Phillips London, 15 April 2021
Gas Mask Boy portrays a crouched young boy wearing a respirator mask. The screen of his respirator reflects the ethereal vision of a blooming field… This work contains some of the conceptual paradoxes Banksy has become most known and recognized for, including the dichotomy between air toxicity and landscape purity, a subject of resounding relevance in today’s escalating climate crisis. Beside the young protagonist is the spray-painted outline of a flower — perhaps the boy’s attempt at painting a meadow, as reflected on his mask.
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In Gas Mask Boy, the artist aims his critique at the policing of graffiti art on an elementary level, but also at the environmental damage imposed upon younger generations, which might lead them to eventually lose sight of flowering meadows and be forced into masks for sanitary protection. Particularly poignant in the present work, the gas mask has been a recurring symbol in Banksy’s iconography. Evidently a tool to disguise his likeness (Banksy has, to this day, still not been visually identified), the mask furthermore contains fringe associations that transform it into a message of subversion in itself.
#14. Girl with Balloon
GBP 2,072,000 / USD 2,868,614
Sotheby’s London, 29 June 2021
With its striking simplicity and raw immediacy, Girl with Balloon, 2003, is one of the most widely recognizable images by the anonymous artist Banksy. Unlike the other editioned iterations of this famous motif, the present example belongs to a rare silkscreen edition of 25 artist’s proofs.
Girl with Balloon, 2003
Stencil spray-paint on canvas
40.5 x 40.5 cm (16×16 inches)
Stenciled with the artist’s name on the overlap
Numbered 24/25 on the stretcher
Beating Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire, Constable’s The Hay Wain and Hockney’s A Bigger Splash to the top spot, Banksy’s Girl with Balloon was voted the nation’s favourite artwork in a 2017 poll; a resounding affirmation of the broad and wide-reaching popularity of this undeniably iconic and culturally formidable image. This accolade was further compounded by the dramatic live ‘shredding’ event at Sotheby’s in October 2018 which notoriously turned a Girl with Balloon canvas into Love is in the Bin – a work that dominated headlines the world over, taking the art world by storm.
#15. Laugh Now But One Day We’ll Be In Charge
USD 2,280,000
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong, 18 June 2021
#16. Monkey Detonator
USD 2,190,000
Christie’s New-York, 9 November 2021
A provocateur of the utmost degree, Banksy has forged a career rooted in rebelliousness and shrouded in mystery. The artist’s keen eye for political and social commentary mixes with dark humor and biting satire to create work that is anything but superficial yet still retains an accessibility for a broad audience. A poignant example of his subversive work from the early 2000s, Monkey Detonator is a sharp image with ties to major themes within the artist’s oeuvre.
Monkey Detonator, 2000
Spray paint on canvas
76.2 x 76.2 cm (30 x 30 inches)
Tagged ‘Banksy’ (lower right)
Part of a varying series derived from a motif originally spray painted on a wall of an industrial unit, this mischievous monkey is poised to set off an explosion at any moment. Using the same stencil as the original, Banksy transports the urban environment onto canvas.
#17. Laugh Now But One Day We’ll Be In Charge
USD 2,070,000
Christie’s New-York, 11 May 2021
Laugh Now But One Day We’ll Be in Charge contains one of the most celebrated motifs used by the enigmatic British artist known as Banksy. Rising to fame in the 1990s, the much-lauded and mischievous instigator uses biting imagery—including his iconic chimpanzees—to create political and social commentary in his signature stenciled form. The present work is a prime example of Banksy’s mixture of wry wit and biting criticism on contemporary society.
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#18. Hummingbird
USD 2,040,000
Christie’s Hong-Kong, 21 May 2021
In Hummingbird, Banksy makes a poignant claim for the importance of graffiti—and of art at large—by invoking the vitality of the natural world. Within a battered gold frame, he depicts a section of concrete wall daubed, splashed and sprayed with paint: the central white splash is improvised into a flower with the addition of a black-sprayed stem and pair of leaves.
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#19. Girl with Ice Cream on Palette
GBP 1,102,750 / USD 1,511,886
Bonhams London, 24 March 2021
Girl with Ice Cream on Palette from 2004 is a rare example of Banksy’s stenciling style on found material which is not only entirely fresh to the market but also depicts one of the most playful and memorable images from his oeuvre, which first appeared at his major breakthrough exhibition Turf War in 2003.
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#20. Flower Chucker
Hessink’s, 26 May 2021
USD 1,492,537
Flower Chucker, 2003
Spray-paint on cardboard
56 x 54.5 cm (26 3/4 x 26 5/8 inches)
Unique from a varied series
#21. Keep It Real
International Art Center, 30 March 2021
GBP 891,350 / USD 1,230,063
Signed on the side
#22. Laugh Now
Sotheby’s London, 13 April 2021
GBP 862,000 / USD 1,180,000
#23. Love Is In The Air
Phillips New-York, 23 June 2021
USD 1,579,500
Spray-paint on canvas
50.8×43.3 cm (20×17 inches)
Stenciled with the artist’s tag “BANKSY” on the turnover edge
#24. Lenin In Sight
Christie’s Hong-Kong, 25 May 2021
GBP 678,000 / USD 960,000
Spray paint on board
59 x 60 cm (23 1/4 x 23 5/8 inches)
#25. Bomb Love
Bonhams London, 15 October 2021
GBP 562,750 / USD 773,874
Bomb Love is pure Banksy: provocative, bitingly satirical and yet tender. Always a vicious opponent of mass media and casual consumerism the sense that today’s youth are being sold aggression instead of innocence, war instead of play explodes from the canvas in a flash of bubble-gum pink. The little girl sporting a ponytail tightly hugs onto the cumbersome military weapon as if it were her favorite cuddly toy and this is redolent of his Girl and Balloon in its whimsicality, and Kids on Guns in its wistful agony. All three images are stone cold classics by the artist coming from the zenith of the artist’s most celebrated period.
Bomb Love, 2002
Spray paint on canvas
25.4 x 20.3 cm (10×8 inches)
Tagged on the turnover edge
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The image that first appeared as a black-and-white stencil on the streets of East London in 2001 has since become an iconic Banksy motif which is highly sought after by collectors. Executed on canvas and tagged with the artist’s distinctive signature, Bomb Love from 2002 is executed onto a rosy base color reminiscent of infanthood that enhances the motif and gives the work itself an innocent and naïve quality.
#26. Lost Children’s Sign from Glastonbury Festival (Sketch)
Christie’s London, 25 March 2021
GBP 525,000 / USD 719,000
#27. Keep It Real
Sotheby’s London, 15 October 2021
GBP 499,000 / USD 683,630
Keep It Real, 2002
Acrylic and spray paint on canvas
30.5 x 30.5 cm (12×12 inches)
Edition: 15
Stenciled with the artist’s signature on the overturn edge
Numbered 10/15 on the stretcher
#28. Love Is In the Air
Phillips London, 15 April 2021
GBP 441,000 / USD 607,000
#29. Gangsta Rat Peace
Phillips New-York, 24 June 2021
USD 529,200
Gangsta Rat Peace, 2007
Spray-paint and stencil and screen-print on paper, double-sided
75.9×56.2 cm (29 7/8 x 22 1/8 inches)
Signed, dedicated, and dated
#30. Riot Cop
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong, 20 April 2021
HKD 3,780,000 / USD 487,000
#31. Bird with Grenade
Phillips London, 16 April 2021
GBP 327,600 / USD 451,000
#32. People Who Enjoy Waving Flags Don’t Deserve To Have One
Forum Auctions, 25 April 2021
GBP 294,800 / USD 409,772
#33. Bad Meaning Good
Sotheby’s London, 26 March 2021
GBP 277,200 / USD 382,000
#34. Bunch of Flowers
Christie’s London, 25 March 2021
GBP 250,000 / USD 343,000
#35. Radar Rat
Sotheby’s New-York, 11 May 2021
GBP 249,000 / USD 352,800
#36. Many Drink To Forget
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong, 18 June 2021
USD 341,000
Many drink to forget…, 2005
Spray paint on wood
43.2 x 122 cm (17 x 48 inches)
#37. Precision Bombing
Christie’s London, 16 October 2021
GBP 225,000 / USD 312,750
Precision Bombing, 2000
spray paint and emulsion on canvas
43 x 47.5 cm (16 7/8 x 18 5/8 inches)
Tagged ‘BANKSY’ (lower right)
Numbered and dated ‘2000 6/10’ (on the stretcher)
Bought-In Lots
Lenin on Roller Skates
Sotheby’s London, 15 October 2021
Lenin on Roller Skates, 2003
Spray paint on canvas
40×30 cm (15 3/4 x 11 7/8 inches)
Stenciled with the artist’s name on the overturn edge
Numbered 17/25 and dated 2003 on the stretcher
Estimated GBP 250,000 – 350,000
Bad Meaning Good
Sotheby’s London, 15 October 2021
Bad Meaning Good, 2002
Acrylic and spray paint on canvas
40.6 x 40.6 cm (15 7/8 x 15 7/8 inches)
Stencilled with the artist’s name on the overturn edge
Estimated GBP 150,000 – 200,000
Kate Moss
Sotheby’s Hong-Kong, 9 October 2021
Kate Moss, 2005
Screen-print on canvas
81×81 cm (32×32 inches)
Signed and numbered 05/05
Estimated USD 1,500,000 – 2,300,000
London New-York Bristol (Monkey)
Christie’s London, 2 July 2021
London New-York Bristol (Monkey), 2000
Spray-paint and acrylic on canvas
61.2 x 61.2 cm (24 1/8 x 24 1/8 inches)
Estimated: GBP 500,000 – 700,000
Tortoise Helmet
Sotheby’s London, 1 July 2021
53×74.5 cm (20 7/8 x 29 3/8 inches)
signed, dated, and numbered 5/5
Estimate: GBP 350,000 – 500,000
Fallen Angel
Sotheby’s London, 1 July 2021
Fallen Angel, 2004
Spray-paint and emulsion on cardboard
246×172.3 cm (104 3/8 x 67 7/8 inches)
Estimated: GBP 650,000 – 850,000
Lots Withdrawn
Love Is In The Air (with Stars)
Christie’s London, 30 June 2021
Love Is In the Air (with stars), 2003
Spray-paint on canvas
50.8×50.8 cm (20×20 inches)
Tagged “Banksy” and numbered 4/25
Estimate: GBP 1,500,000 – 2,000,000
