Banksy’s playful take on a famous Impressionist painting has sold at auction for 7.6 million pounds ($9.8 million), the second-highest price ever paid for a work by the British street artist.

“Show Me the Monet” sold to an unidentified bidder at Sotheby’s in London on Wednesday evening, surpassing its upper pre-sale estimate of 5 million pounds.

In the 2005 work, Banksy added abandoned shopping carts and an orange traffic cone to Claude Monet’s image of water lilies in his garden at Giverny.

Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s European head of contemporary art, said the work was one of the “strongest and most iconic” Banksy works to appear at auction.

Banksy, whose real name has never been officially confirmed, began his career spray-painting buildings in Bristol, England, and has become one of the world’s best-known artists.

Another Banksy work, “Devolved Parliament,” sold last year at Sotheby’s in London for 9.9 million pounds. Earlier this month, his graffiti-style piece “Forgive Us Our Trespassing” sold for $8.3 million at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong.

Share:
More In Culture
Need2Know: January 24, 2022
A second mass shooting in California, four Oath Keepers found guilty of seditious conspiracy, and Poland pushes for more tanks for Ukraine. Here is everything you Need2Know for Tuesday, January 24, 2023.
7 dead as California mourns 3rd mass killing in 8 days
San Mateo County Sheriff ChristinaCorpusspeaks at a news conference following a shooting Monday, Jan. 23, 2023, in Half Moon Bay, Calif. Multiple people were killed in two related shootings Monday at a mushroom farm and a trucking firm in a coastal community south of San Francisco, and officials say a suspect is in custody. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Load More