His works are repeatedly destroyed, sometimes by third parties, sometimes deliberately by the artist himself.

In 2018, Banksy's artwork "Girl with Balloon" shredded itself at auction, and a year ago its graffiti on the subway was wiped away by the authorities.

This time it was the American actor Christopher Walken ("Pulp Fiction") who painted over a motif by the street artist.

In the season finale of the BBC series “The Outlaws”, Walken starts with a paint roller and paints over the work, a rat with two spray cans and the words Banksy, with a neat layer of light wall paint.

In the comedy thriller, the 78-year-old plays a member of a group of petty criminals who are renovating a building as part of charitable work.

When he discovers Banksy's rat motif, he draws his supervisor's attention to it.

She doesn't even look, she just reminds him that all graffiti must be painted over.

After a moment's hesitation and the comment “this is really good”, the rat actually disappears behind a layer of beige color.

An original copy

A spokesman for the production confirmed in a statement that the rat is an original Banksy: “We can confirm that the artwork at the end of 'The Outlaws' was an original by Banksy, and that Christopher Walken used this artwork during the The filming of this scene painted over and ultimately destroyed it. "

The scene was created with the consent of the street artist.

Banksy placed the work there especially for the shoot - so that it can disappear in a scene within a few seconds.

However, he is said to have made one condition: “that they really paint it over - and that it is his hero Christopher who holds the paint roller”.

There is a real hype about Banksy's works on the art market, they often change hands for several million.

The half-shredded work "Love in the Bin" was only auctioned in October for 16 million pounds.