A parody of one of Claude Monet's paintings

Banksy's "lilies" are sold for 7.6 million pounds

The painting is one of a series of paintings entitled "Crowd Oils", in which the street artist has altered major classics.

Reuters

A painting by British street artist Banksy "Show Me The Monet" (Show Me Monet), a parody of Claude Monet's "Water Lilies", was sold in London for 7.6 million pounds (8.5 million euros), according to Sotheby's. .

The painting was sought by five collectors who competed in an online auction over the course of nine minutes.

The painting was expected to sell for between three and five million pounds, but one of the bidders snatched it for 7.6 million pounds, which is "the second highest price ever" for one of Banksy's works at an auction.

Banksy's painting dates from 2005 and is based on one of the famous works of the French Impressionist painter.

The original painting consisted of a Japanese bridge over a pond dotted with water lilies, but Banksy also incorporated five orange traffic cones and an old grocery cart.

In a statement, the European official for Sotheby's Department of Contemporary Art, Alex Branchic, said that Banksy expresses, through this painting, “the disdain of society for the environment in the face of wasteful extravagance in consumerism,” describing the artist from Bristol as a “visionary”.

And "Show Me The Monet" is one of a series of paintings titled "Crowd Oils", in which the street artist has altered major classics.

This group includes, for example, a parody of Van Gogh's painting "Sunflowers", in which flowers appear faded, while Andy Warhol's "Marilyn Monroe" transformed into Kate Moss.

"Show Me The Monet" did not break the record set in 2019 for Banksy's painting "The Parliament of the Monkeys", which was 9.9 million pounds (11.1 million euros), and it was recorded during a previous auction of "Sotheby's".

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