By Hiba Nawaid ’23
Staff Writer
“Show me the Monet,” Banksy’s reworking of Claude Monet’s impressionist painting “Bridge over a Pond of Water Lillies,” was auctioned for $9.8 million (£7.6 million) at Sotheby’s last week, becoming the artist’s second most expensive painting, according to CNN.
Known for his provocative street art, Banksy created a series of oil paintings for an exhibition in 2005 called “Crude Oils: A Gallery of Re-mixed Masterpieces, Vandalism and Vermin,” which featured “Show me the Monet.” These paintings were reinterpretations of famed works by Edward Hopper, Vincent van Gogh, Andy Warhol and more and were showcased by collectors Roland and Jane Cowan in West London. The couple purchased “Show me the Monet” after the show closed for £15,000, according to Banksy’s former agent Steve Lazarides.
After nine minutes of bidding on Oct. 21, a collector bought “Show me the Monet.” The painting features an orange traffic cone and two overturned metal shopping carts in the pond of water lilies under Monet’s originally painted Japanese-style bridge near Giverny, France. These additions, which strike the eye as interruptions in an otherwise peaceful scene, are a nod to the ever-increasing material consumption and environmental pollution levels of the modern world.
Following the auction, “Show me the Monet” became Banksy’s second most expensive piece of artwork. His most expensive piece, “Devolved Parliament,” sold last year at Sotheby’s in London for $12.2 million. “Devolved Parliament” depicts chimpanzees debating in the House of Commons in place of British politicians and was auctioned off during the Brexit negotiations.
In relation to Banksy’s street art, a medium which is often shunned by the art world and regarded as vandalism, there is irony in “Show me the Monet” fetching nearly $10 million.
The artist’s graffiti-based works often critique controversial social and political issues; “Show me the Monet” itself is a commentary on the impact of excessive consumerism. “Monet” replaces “Money” in the title, pointing to the larger theme of art commodification. While street art is able to escape such commodification, this Banksy painting arguably has been objectified as a result of its lucrative auctioning to a private collector.
This irony can also be traced back to 2018, when another Banksy painting, titled “Girl With Balloon,” appeared to fall down from the frame in shreds minutes after being auctioned off for $1.4 million. The satirical stunt, which involved a secret installation of a paper shredder in the painting frame by Banksy himself, was arguably a criticism of the art world. However, according to Leon Benrimon, the director of modern and contemporary art at Heritage Auctions, the market worth of the painting doubled following the stunt. The painting was renamed to “Love Is in the Bin” and was claimed by the buyer in its tattered condition.
Despite the paradoxical relationship between the themes of Banksy’s art and the art collectors who spend millions to own his work, the art world’s fixation with Banksy shows no sign of slowing down. What remains to be seen is how the artist continues to expand his practice and how he will respond to the sentiments of art buyers through his provocative pieces.
