Street artist Banksy's tongue-in-cheek tribute to renowned impressionist Claude Monet will go on sale at Sotheby's in London for an estimated £3-5 million (Dh14.2-23.7m).
The oil painting, titled Show me the Monet, dates from 2005 and features the beloved French painter's lily pond strewn with jarring additions including partially submerged shopping trolleys and a floating traffic cone.
The work is due to go on sale at a livestreamed auction in London on Wednesday, October 21, where estimates suggest it could sell for up to £5 million. It was first shown as part of the elusive street artist's second gallery exhibition in the UK capital 15 years ago.
The painting was unveiled on Friday for the start of a two-day preview and will travel on to New York and Hong Kong this month.
Sotheby’s European head of contemporary art, Alex Branczik, 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.
“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.”
A Banksy painting depicting British members of parliament as chimpanzees sold for £9.9 million in what is believed to be a record for the artist.
_______________
