Banksy's 'Show Me The Monet' Fetches £6.4 Million at Sotheby's

Banksy's 2005 painting 'Show Me The Monet', a satirical intervention on Claude Monet's water lily pond, sold for £6.4 million (£7.55 million with buyer's premium) at Sotheby's London on October 21, 2020. The work, estimated at £3-5 million, was offered from a private London collection and hammered down after eight minutes of bidding to an Asian client via Sotheby's Asia desk. It is considered one of Banksy's most iconic pieces and is rare for being entirely hand-painted by the artist. The painting critiques corporate pollution by depicting shopping carts dumped into Monet's idyllic pond. Sotheby's displayed the work in a room with seating made from similar shopping carts, echoing the artwork's theme. This sale follows Banksy's previous records at Sotheby's: the self-destructing 'Girl with Balloon' in 2018 and 'Devolved Parliament' which sold for £9.9 million in 2019.