A Banksy painting ‘self-destructed’ last night after it was sold for more than €1.1 million.
The piece, Girl With Balloon, is one of Banksy’s most well known images. It shows a young girl reaching up towards a bright red heart-shaped balloon.
According to Sky News, it was up for auction at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Sale on Friday night.
The auction house said that the painting and been signed and dedicated, with the vendor getting it from the artist in 2006.
The winner bid £860,000 (€977,650) – £1,042,000 (€1,184,550) with the buyer’s premium – over the phone around 9pm.
Pre-auction, the piece and been estimated to go for between £200,000 and £300,000.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bokt2sEhlsu/?utm_source=ig_embed
Just after the painting was sold, the piece “self-destructed” and was shredded through what is thought to have been a remotely activated mechanism in the frame.
It then came out the bottom of the frame in long strips, as the people who were in the room looked on in horror.
Banksy shared a photo of the moment on his Instagram account, which he simply captioned: “Going, going, gone…”
Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s senior director and head of contemporary art in Europe, said (via the Financial Times):
“It appears we just got Banksy-ed.
“We have not experienced this situation in the past . . . where a painting spontaneously shredded, upon achieving a [near-]record for the artist.
“We are busily figuring out what this means in an auction context.”
A spokesperson for the auction house told the publication that they have been in touch with the purchaser of the piece, who was “surprised by the story.” They are discussing the next steps to take.
Girl With Balloon first appeared on Great Eastern Street in Shoreditch, London, in 2006.
