Banksy's 'Devolved Parliament' sets artist record at Sotheby's London sale

On 2 October, Banksy's 2009 painting Devolved Parliament sold for £9.8 million including fees at Sotheby's in London, far exceeding its £2 million high estimate and establishing a new auction record for the street artist. The four-metre-wide work portrays British parliamentarians as chimpanzees. The same evening sale saw Jean-Michel Basquiat's 1984 painting Pyro achieve a comparable price. Sotheby's senior director Alex Branczik remarked that the event unequivocally highlighted street artists who have entered art history. This sale follows Banksy's previous sensation at a Sotheby's evening auction last year, when another artwork appeared to self-destruct after being sold.