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In "Show me the Monet" from 2005, Banksy used
oil on canvas to recreate Monet's famously serene and verdant
painting of the wooden footbridge that straddled the French
artist's beloved lily pond in his garden at Giverny.
But in Banksy's version, the idyll has turned into a modern day
dumping ground where two abandoned shopping trolleys and an
orange traffic cone float in the water.
"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," said Alex
Branczik, Sotheby’s European Head of Contemporary Art.
The Bristol-born artist, who keeps his identity a secret, is
known for his political and social graffiti work. "Show me the
Monet" was part of a series of what Banksy called "remixes" of
famous artworks.
"This is a moment when the artist who previously used the
streets as his canvas starts taking those celebrated
masterpieces of our history and making those same witty, playful
incursions into the hallowed territory of the great canon of art
history," said Branczik.
In October last year, a large Banksy painting depicting primates
sitting in Britain’s parliament sold for more than $12 million,
a record price at auction for a work by the secretive British
street artist, according to Sotheby's.
In 2018, another Banksy canvas, "Girl with Balloon", shredded
itself in front of shocked onlookers at a Sotheby’s auction just
as it was sold.
"Show me the Monet" went on display in Sotheby's New Bond Street
galleries in London on Monday for a two-day preview. The auction
house said it would then be shown in New York and Hong Kong,
before returning to London for the sale.
(Writing by Raissa Kasolowsky; Editing by Mike Collett-White)
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