WORK IN PROGRESS

Introduction

Beating Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire, Constable’s The Hay Wain and Hockney’s A Bigger Splash to the top spot, Banksy’s Girl with Balloon was voted the UK’s favorite artwork in a 2017 poll; a resounding affirmation of the broad and wide-reaching popularity of this undeniably iconic and culturally formidable image. This accolade was further compounded by the dramatic live ‘shredding’ event at Sotheby’s in October 2018 which notoriously turned a Girl with Balloon canvas into Love is in the Bin – a work that dominated headlines the world over, taking the art world by storm and has since been exhibited at the Museum Frieder Burda, Baden-Baden and more recently at the Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. Its impact on the latter’s visitor numbers was substantial, and further reinforces the power of this image and its mysterious author.

Girl with Balloon is a fundamentally ambiguous image. Showing a small girl with windswept dress and hair, the viewer is unsure as to whether she has let the balloon go, or had it swept from her hand; uncertain as to whether to read this as a hopeful scene, or a desolate one. This image has become Banksy’s calling card. Akin to Andy Warhol’s soup cans, and Damien Hirst’s spots, this motif has appeared throughout his oeuvre and onwards through global visual culture. Starting in 2002, the work appeared in street murals in Shoreditch and the South bank in London. The artist created a hugely popular edition of 600 prints on paper, including 150 signed impressions, and there is an edition of 25 works on canvas that are now considered amongst the most sought-after paintings from Banksy’s career. In 2017, Girl with Balloon was voted the nation’s favorite artwork in a poll, beating Turner’s The Fighting Temeraire, Constable’s The Hay Wain, and Hockney’s A Bigger Splash. As an image it is transcendent and immediately recognizable; the most famous image created by the most famous artist today. Born in Bristol and based in England, Banksy has garnered international acclaim for his distinctive style of satirical street art and graffiti, executed using a technique of stenciling. His work is rich in dark humor and frequently captioned with subversive epigrams that provide poignant and potent commentaries on the social and political aspects of contemporary society. Instantly gettable, Banksy’s graffiti image is a perfect encapsulation of human emotion for the fast pace of our social media age: it seditiously pokes fun at high-minded art world savoir faire and in doing so appeals to many, for whom it represents a contemporary expression of sanctity, a bright and vivid symbol of hope everlasting. Ultimately, however, Girl with Balloon is the supreme icon within Banksy’s canon of motifs: whether you are for or against him, this image utterly encapsulates the immediacy and controversy surrounding the artist’s mission.

Girl With Balloon is perhaps Banksy’s most notable and iconic work, demonstrating the graffiti stencil technique he has become renowned for. A 2017 public poll ranked Girl with Balloon as the UK’s number one favorite artwork.

Girl with Balloon depicts a young girl, whose hair and dress are blowing in the wind, reaching for (or releasing) a red, heart-shaped balloon that has slipped from her grasp. The red balloon, as the only spot of color, is an archetypal symbol of childhood and freedom many of us connect with. More than a simple child’s toy, it evokes fragility of what it stands for: innocence, dreams, hope and love.

“There is always Hope”

Girl with Balloon, London South Bank, 2003

Well loved by the public and collectors alike, her heartbreaking gesture reaches out to all of us making this one of the most recognizable artworks of the 21st century. This iconic visual first appeared in London’s Southbank in 2002 and was accompanied by the quotation “There is always hope”. Because of this, the work has come to represent both childhood innocence and the importance of maintaining hope, even in the darkest of times. Such themes link Banksy’s work to the French film of 1956, Le ballon rouge (The Red Balloon).

The Oscar-winning short film is set in the streets of post-war Paris, and tells the story of Pascal, a young boy who is followed by a red balloon that appears to have a mind of its own. As in Banksy’s Girl with Balloon, Pascal’s red balloon serves as a symbol of hope and light. 

On 5 October 2018, a 2006 framed Girl with Balloon on canvas was auctioned at Sotheby’s London and sold for GBP 1,042,000, a record high for the artist. Moments after the closing bid, the artwork began to self-destruct by means of a hidden mechanical paper shredder that Banksy had built into the bottom of the frame. Fortunately (or unfortunately, depending on whom you ask) only the lower half was shredded instead of the entire piece as he intended. The room filled with art collectors looked on in horror and confusion as the canvas began to self-destruct, and countless others were watching the auction unfold online.

Banksy has created many original artworks based on this iconic stencil, including 2 editions on canvas.

Top Lots

#1. Love Is In The Bin, 2018

Sotheby’s London: 14 October 2021
Estimated: GBP 4,000,000 – 6,000,000
GBP 18,582,000 / USD 25,457,340

Love is in the Bin | Contemporary Art Evening Auction | 2021 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

BANKSY
Love Is In The Bin, 2018
Spray paint and acrylic on canvas mounted on board, framed by the artist
Decommissioned, remote controlled shredding mechanism remains in the frame.
142x78x18 cm (60 x 30.9 x 7 inches)

#2. Girl with Balloon (Diptych), 2005

Christie’s London: 14 October 2021
Estimated: GBP 2,600,000 – 3,500,000
GBP 3,042,500 / USD 4,168,225

BANKSY (christies.com)

BANKSY
Girl with Balloon (Diptych), 2005
Spray paint on canvas, in two parts
Each: 30.2 x 30.2 cm (12×12 inches)
This work is from an edition of twenty-five

#3. Girl with Balloon, 2006

Sotheby’s London: 2 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 2,000,000 – 3,000,000
GBP 2,818,000 / USD 3,766,876

Girl with Balloon | The Now Evening Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

BANKSY (b. 1974)
Girl with Balloon, 2006
Spray-paint on metal
60×90 cm (23 5/8 x 35 1/2 inches)
This work is from an edition of 5

#4. Girl with Balloon, 2003

Sotheby’s London: 29 June 2021
Estimated: GBP 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
GBP 2,072,000 / USD 2,870,000

Girl with Balloon | British Art Evening Sale: Modern/Contemporary | 2021 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

BANKSY
Girl with Balloon, 2003
Spray paint on canvas
40.5 x 40.5 cm (16×16 inches)
This work is from an edition of 25

#XX. Girl with Balloon Diptych, 2006

Sotheby’s London: 14 October 2022
Estimated: GBP 1,200,000 – 1,800,000
GBP 882,000 / USD 988,789

Girl with Balloon Diptych | The Now Evening Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

BANKSY (B. 1974)
Girl with Balloon Diptych, 2006
Spray paint on canvas, in two parts
Each: 30×30 cm (12×12 inches)
Left canvas: signed Banksy, dated 2006 and numbered Artist Proof 00/25 (on the reverse)
Right canvas: tagged (on the overturn edge)

2025 Auction Results

Only prints sold at auction in 2025.

Girl with Balloon (unsigned) sold 6 times at auction in 2025 for a total turnover of GBP 465,465 (USD 617,680), at a median price of GBP 82,550 (USD 106,713). It sold at Sotheby’s in New-York on 19 November 2025 for USD 127,000 (GBP 94,605), its highest price in 2025.

Girl with Balloon (signed) sold twice at auction in 2025: (1) at Forum Auctions, on 15 October 2025 for GBP 177,180 (USD 237,420); and (2) at Christie’s online on 1 April 2025 for GBP 189,000 (USD 244,190).

#1. Girl with Balloon (78/150), 2004

Christie’s online: 1 April 2025
Estimated: GBP 150,000 – 250,000
GBP 189,000 / USD 244,190
SIGNED PRINT

BANKSY
Girl with Balloon (signed), 2004
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Signed, dated and numbered 78/150 in pencil, with the publisher’s blindstamp

#2. Girl with Balloon (402/600), 2004

Forum Auctions: 15 October 2025
Estimated: GBP 130,000 – 150,000
GBP 135,000 (Hammer)
GBP 177,180 / USD 237,420
SIGNED PRINT

BANKSY (b.1974)
Girl with Balloon (Signed), 2004
Screenprint in black and red on wove paper
Signed, dated and inscribed with a heart in pencil
Numbered from the edition of 150

#3. Girl with Balloon (402/600), 2004

Sotheby’s New-York: 19 November 2025
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 94,605 / USD 127,000
UNSIGNED PRINT

BANKSY (b. 1974)
Girl with Balloon (unsigned), 2004
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Numbered 402/600 (lower right)
With the blindstamp of the publisher, Pictures on Walls

#4. Girl with Balloon (518/600), 2004

Christie’s London: 30 September 2025
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 88,900 / USD 119,480
UNSIGNED PRINT

BANKSY
Girl with Balloon (unsigned), 2004
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Numbered 518/600 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp
(there was also a signed edition of 150)

#5. Girl with Balloon (153/600), 2004

Phillips London: 5 June 2025
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000

GBP 82,550 / USD 111,445
UNSIGNED PRINT

BANKSY
Girl with Balloon (unsigned), 2004
Screenprint in colors, on wove paper

Numbered 153/600 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp
An unsigned impression (there was also a signed edition of 150)

#6. Girl with Balloon (378/600), 2004

Phillips London: 23 January 2025
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 82,550 / USD 101,980
UNSIGNED PRINT

BANKSY
Girl with Balloon (unsigned), 2004
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Numbered 378/600 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp

---

USD 100,000

---

#7. Girl with Balloon (/600), 2004

Forum Auctions: 10 December 2025
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 50,000 (Hammer)
GBP 65,660 / USD 87,785
UNSIGNED PRINT

BANKSY (b.1974)
Girl with Balloon (unsigned), 2004
Screenprint in red and black on wove paper
Numbered from the edition of 600 in pencil
Printed and published by Pictures on Walls, London, with their blindstamp

#8. Girl with Balloon (518/600), 2004

Bonhams London: 25 June 2025
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
GBP 51,200 / USD 69,990
UNSIGNED PRINT

BANKSY (British, born 1974)

Girl With Balloon (unsigned), 2004
Screenprint in colors
Numbered 408/600 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp

2024 Auction Results

#1. Girl and Balloon, 2003

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 26 September 2024
Estimated: HKD 7,000,000 – 10,000,000
HKD 8,568,000 / USD 1,100,430
EDITION ON CANVAS

Girl and Balloon (christies.com)

BANKSY (B. 1974)
Girl and Balloon, 2003
Spray paint on canvas
40×40 cm (16×16 inches)
Stenciled ‘BANKSY’ (on the side)
Numbered ‘21⁄25’ (on the stretcher bar)

#2. Girl with Balloon (signed) (51/150), 2004

International Art Center: 26 March 2024
Estimated: NZD 500,000 – 700,000
NZD 500,000 (HAMMER)
NZD 600,600 / USD 360,360 / GBP 284,144
SIGNED PRINT

BANKSY (British b. 1974)
Girl with Balloon (signed), 2004
Screenprint on wove paper
Signed and dated in pencil, lower right
Numbered in pencil 51/150 with the publisher’s blindstamp, lower right

#5. Girl with Balloon (unsigned) (57/600), 2004

Sotheby’s New-York: 16 July 2024
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
 GBP 89,765 / USD 114,000
UNSIGNED PRINT

BANKSY (b. 1974)
Girl with Balloon (unsigned), 2004
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Numbered in pencil 57/600 (lower right) with the publisher’s blindstamp

#6. Girl with Balloon (unsigned) (XXX/600), 2004

SBI Art Auction: 25 May 2024
Estimated: JPY 8,000,0000 – 13,000,000
JPY 16,675,000 / USD 106,245
UNSIGNED PRINT

BANKSY
Girl with Balloon (unsigned) ,2004
Screenprint
Numbered and embossed on the lower right from the edition of 600

---

USD 100,000

---

#7. Girl with Balloon (unsigned) (499/600), 2004

Phillips London: 19 September 2024
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 76,200 / USD 98,984
UNSIGNED PRINT

BANKSY
Girl with Balloon (unsigned), 2004
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
Sheet: 70×50 cm (27 1/2 x 19 5/8 inches)
Numbered 499/600 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp

#8. Girl with Balloon (unsigned) (482/600), 2004

Sotheby’s online: 20 March 2024
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 76,200 / USD 96,639
UNSIGNED PRINT

BANKSY (b. 1974)
Girl with Balloon (unsigned), 2004
Screenprint in colors on wove paper
With the publisher’s blindstamp and numbered 482/600

#9. Girl with Balloon (unsigned) (XXX/600), 2004

Forum Auctions: 29 October 2024
Estimated: GBP 55,000 – 65,000
Hammer: GBP 50,000
GBP 67,000 / USD 86,966
UNSIGNED PRINT

BANKSY (b.1974)
Girl with Balloon (unsigned), 2004
Screenprint in red and black on wove paper
Numbered from the edition of 600 in pencil with the publisher’s blindstamp

2023 Auction Results

Only prints sold at auction in 2023.

Girl with Balloon (unsigned) sold 10 times at auction in 2023 for an aggregate turnover of GBP 840,770 (USD 1,045,749), at an average price of GBP 84,077 (USD 104,575). Its highest price for 2023 of GBP 109,620 (USD 134,833) was achieved at Phillips in London on 19 January 2023.

Girl with Balloon (signed) sold twice in 2023, at Phillips in London on 6 December 2023 for GBP 215,900 (USD 271,915), and at Sotheby’s in London on 26 September 2023 for GBP 190,500 (USD 231,723).

#1. Girl with Balloon (signed) (84/150), 2004

Phillips London: 6 December 2023
Estimated: GBP 120,000 – 180,000
GBP 215,900 / USD 271,915
SIGNED PRINT

Banksy – New Now London Lot 32 December 2023 | Phillips

#3. Girl with Balloon (unsigned) (200/600), 2004

Phillips London: 23 January 2023
Estimated: GBP 70,000 – 90,000
GBP 109,620 / USD 134,833
UNSIGNED PRINT
HIGHEST PRICE PAID FOR GIRL WITH BALLOON (UNSIGNED) IN 2023

BANKSY
Girl with Balloon, 2004
Screenprint in black and red on wove paper
Numbered 200/600 in pencil, lower right

2022 Auction Results

#1. Girl with Balloon, 2006

Sotheby’s London: 2 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 2,000,000 – 3,000,000
GBP 2,818,000 / USD 3,766,876
UNIQUE WORK ON METAL

Girl with Balloon | The Now Evening Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

BANKSY (b. 1974)
Girl with Balloon, 2006
Spray-paint on metal
60×90 cm (23 5/8 x 35 1/2 inches)
This work is from an edition of 5

#2. Girl with Balloon Diptych, 2006

Sotheby’s London: 14 October 2022
Estimated: GBP 1,200,000 – 1,800,000
GBP 882,000 / USD 988,789
EDITION ON CANVAS

Girl with Balloon Diptych | The Now Evening Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

BANKSY (B. 1974)
Girl with Balloon Diptych, 2006
Spray paint on canvas, in two parts
Each: 30×30 cm (12×12 inches)
Left canvas: signed Banksy, dated 2006 and numbered Artist Proof 00/25 (on the reverse)
Right canvas: tagged (on the overturn edge)

#3. Girl with Balloon & Morons Sepia, 2007

Phillips Hong-Kong: 1 December 2022
Estimated: HKD 4,500,000 – 6,500,000
HKD 5,670,000 / USD 726,461
SIGNED PRINT

Banksy – 20th Century & Contemporar… Lot 25 December 2022 | Phillips

#4. Girl with Balloon (signed AP) (200/600), 2004

#5. Girl with Balloon (signed) (23/150), 2004

#6. Girl with Balloon (unsigned) (401/600), 2004

2021 Auction Results

#1. Love Is In The Bin, 2018

Sotheby’s London: 14 October 2021
Estimated: GBP 4,000,000 – 6,000,000
GBP 18,582,000 / USD 25,457,340
UNIQUE WORK ON CANVAS

Love is in the Bin | Contemporary Art Evening Auction | 2021 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

BANKSY
Love Is In The Bin, 2018
Spray paint and acrylic on canvas mounted on board, framed by the artist
Decommissioned, remote controlled shredding mechanism remains in the frame.
142x78x18 cm (60 x 30.9 x 7 inches)

#2. Girl with Balloon (Diptych), 2005

Christie’s London: 14 October 2021
Estimated: GBP 2,600,000 – 3,500,000
GBP 3,042,500 / USD 4,168,225
EDITION ON CANVAS

BANKSY (christies.com)

BANKSY
Girl with Balloon (Diptych), 2005
Spray paint on canvas, in two parts
Each: 30.2 x 30.2 cm (12×12 inches)
This work is from an edition of twenty-five

#3. Girl with Balloon, 2003

Sotheby’s London: 29 June 2021
Estimated: GBP 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
GBP 2,072,000 / USD 2,870,000
EDITION ON CANVAS

Girl with Balloon | British Art Evening Sale: Modern/Contemporary | 2021 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

BANKSY
Girl with Balloon, 2003
Spray paint on canvas
40.5 x 40.5 cm (16×16 inches)
This work is from an edition of 25

Love Is In The Bin, 2018

Sotheby’s London: 14 October 2021
Estimated: GBP 4,000,000 – 6,000,000
GBP 18,582,000 / USD 25,457,340

Love is in the Bin | Contemporary Art Evening Auction | 2021 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

BANKSY
Love Is In The Bin, 2018
Spray paint and acrylic on canvas mounted on board, framed by the artist
Decommissioned, remote controlled shredding mechanism remains in the frame.
142x78x18 cm (60 x 30.9 x 7 inches)

Undermining the establishment has always been at the heart of Banksy’s work, indeed, taking the artworld down a peg or two has particular currency in his imagery and ideology. It should therefore have come as no surprise that Banksy would mastermind perhaps the most extraordinary and elaborate feat of artistic subterfuge in recent history: the moment Girl with Balloon ‘self-destructed’ at Sotheby’s Contemporary Art Evening Auction on 5 October 2018.

But of course, this wasn’t an act of destruction, it was a moment of creation, a metamorphosis that transformed Banksy’s Girl with Balloon into an entirely new work of art that, in the words of BBC Arts Editor Will Gompetz, ‘will come to be seen as one of the most significant artworks of the early 21^st Century.’
(Will Gompertz, ‘Will Gompertz on Banksy’s Love is in the Bin’, BBC News, 13 October 2018, online).

Hidden within the ornate gilded frame surrounding Banksy’s famous spray-painted image was a shredding mechanism that began whirring and beeping as soon as Oliver Barker hammered down the gavel on the winning GBP 1,042,000 bid: a gobsmacked, audience looked on as the canvas began to pass through the frame in neatly cut strips. By the time the work was removed from view by Sotheby’s technicians, the machinery had stopped shredding halfway through the composition; a malfunction unexpected by the artist who, on his Instagram, claimed that “it worked in rehearsals every time”. Not knowing what was to come, Sotheby’s had placed the work at the end of one of the phone banks in a position reserved for works set to achieve high prices – a spot that played right into the artist’s hands as the event was immortalized on camera. In the days and weeks that followed Banksy’s shredded canvas became a cultural phenomenon: 30,000 news stories ensued globally, and the infamous painting became the subject of memes, political cartoons, protest placards, fridge magnets and t-shirts, to name only a few imaginative uses.

Girl with Balloon, 2006

Sotheby’s London: 2 March 2022
Estimated: GBP 2,000,000 – 3,000,000
GBP 2,818,000 / USD 3,766,876

Girl with Balloon | The Now Evening Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

BANKSY (b. 1974)
Girl with Balloon, 2006
Spray-paint on metal
60×90 cm (23 5/8 x 35 1/2 inches)
This work is from an edition of 5

This work comes from the collection of Robbie Williams, who acquired it directly from the artist in 2006. Like Banksy, Robbie Williams was one of the most important figures in British culture in the 2000s. In their respective fields, each of these creative figures defined the landscape. It is befitting that Williams owned such an iconic piece of British art and in the context of Williams’ ownership, it is easier to read the message of the work as hopeful.

Girl and Balloon, 2003

Girl and Balloon, 2003

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 26 September 2024
Estimated: HKD 7,000,000 – 10,000,000
HKD 8,568,000 / USD 1,100,430

Girl and Balloon (christies.com)

BANKSY (B. 1974)
Girl and Balloon, 2003
Spray paint on canvas
40×40 cm (16×16 inches)
Stenciled ‘BANKSY’ (on the side)
Numbered ‘21⁄25’ (on the stretcher bar)

A contemporary emblem of innocence and hope, Girl with Balloon is one of the limited editions uniquely rendered using a hand-cut stencil by the famed British graffiti artist Banksy. It was created in 2003, a year after the Girl with Balloon—his most legendary and lauded image to date—made its first appearance as a graffiti mural outside Shoreditch shop and later at Southbank with an epitaph ‘There is Always Hope’. Despite its universal resonance, the image depicted in the present work—a girl stenciled in black reaching out towards a red, heart-shaped balloon dangling from a sting—is not without ambiguity. Is the girl reaching out for something she has lost, or has she released a message of love into the world? Such ambivalence is what made Banksy’s works agitating yet powerful, as with all of Banksy’s works, their ultimate meanings always stay with the spectator.

“Art should comfort the disturbed and disturb the comfortable”

Girl with Balloon not only stands as the purest expression of Banksy’s visual genius as an instantly recognizable and timelessly arresting image, but it has also proved to be an enduring icon of transcendent, multivalent meaning. In 2005, Banksy produced another variant of the motif on the West Bank barrier wall, this time with a bunch of balloons lifting the girl into the sky. In 2014, a version featuring a child with a headscarf was projected onto Nelson’s Column and other global landmarks in support of crisis victims in Syria. In 2018, the fame of Girl with Balloon rose to a new height with an unexpected intervention by the artist during a live auction where the work with the same title was shredded soon after it was sold. As the first artwork in history to have been ‘re-created’ during a live auction, the controversial work was renamed Love is in the Bin (2018) by the artist’s studio Pest Control soon after. In 2021, it was renamed the second time as Girl without Balloon (2021) when it was re-offered at the auction. (A. Shaw, ‘Banksy’s shredded Girl with Balloon renamed and redated—again’, The Art Newspaper, 23 Jan 2024) A motif that perhaps best defines the essence of Banksy’s art with two simple visual elements, Girl with Balloon is a time-tested image that will continue to evolve and touch the hearts of millions.

Girl with Balloon, 2003

Sotheby’s London: 29 June 2021
Estimated: GBP 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
GBP 2,072,000 / USD 2,870,000

Girl with Balloon | British Art Evening Sale: Modern/Contemporary | 2021 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

BANKSY
Girl with Balloon, 2003
Spray paint on canvas
40.5 x 40.5 cm (16×16 inches)
This work is from an edition of 25

With its striking simplicity and raw immediacy, Girl with Balloon, 2003, is one of the most widely recognizable images by the anonymous and world-renowned artist Banksy. Unlike the other editioned iterations of this famous motif, the present example belongs to a rare silkscreen edition 25 artist’s proofs.

Girl with Balloon & Morons Sepia, 2007

Phillips Hong-Kong: 1 December 2022
Estimated: HKD 4,500,000 – 6,500,000
HKD 5,670,000 / USD 726,461

Banksy – 20th Century & Contemporar… Lot 25 December 2022 | Phillips

First developed in 2002 and 2006 respectively, Girl with Ballon and Morons have, as independent images, become laden with meaning. The former, initially devised as a stencil mural, was exhibited in such public and political spaces as Waterloo Bridge and the West Bank barrier. Its portrayal of a young girl reaching for – or releasing – a drifting balloon spurred a number of interpretations relating to one’s inevitable loss of childhood and innocence. Recognized as one of the artist’s foremost symbols for more than a decade, and voted the nation’s favorite artwork in 2017, the image once again came to the forefront of the public’s attention in 2018, when a 2006 framed copy of the artwork came to auction and sold for a record price. Adding further momentum to the event, the work began self-destructing just a few moments after the closing bid, by means of a concealed mechanical paper shredder Banksy had built into the frame bottom. Marking auction history with an unprecedented performative quality, Girl with Balloon became an icon for the unpredictable developments of contemporary markets, whilst simultaneously entering the realm of popular culture.

Similarly quoting the environment and corporate fabric of the auction world, Morons was published as a set of six prints on the occasion of Banksy’s important and characteristically controversial warehouse exhibition Barely Legal, which took place in Los Angeles in 2006. In the now iconic image, an auctioneer commands a sale room packed with bidders, immortalising the historical 1987 sale that saw Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers yield a price of £22,500,000 – a record for any work at auction at the time. Among the works on display, a large canvas to the right of the composition stands out, reading the words ‘I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU MORONS ACTUALLY BUY THIS SHIT’. Devising a facetious critique of the art world – one that Banksy has become known and revered for – the artist paradoxically turns his own creative gesture into a reproducible image, one that, in Girl with Balloon & Morons Sepia, constitutes half of the work’s iconographic value. Together, Morons Sepia and Girl with Balloon form a joint critique of the art world, specifically on the auction market, irreverently contributing to the artist’s overarching political stance. As such, the work epitomises Banksy’s ability to propel his infamous urban vernacular to the realm of high art.

Girl with Balloon Diptych, 2006

Girl with Balloon (Diptych), 2005

Sotheby’s London: 14 October 2022
Estimated: GBP 1,200,000 – 1,800,000
GBP 882,000 / USD 988,789

Girl with Balloon Diptych | The Now Evening Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

BANKSY (B. 1974)
Girl with Balloon Diptych, 2006
Spray paint on canvas, in two parts
Each: 30×30 cm (12×12 inches)
Left canvas: signed Banksy, dated 2006 and numbered Artist Proof 00/25 (on the reverse)
Right canvas: tagged (on the overturn edge)

Girl with Balloon (Diptych), 2005

Christie’s London: 14 October 2021
Estimated: GBP 2,600,000 – 3,500,000
GBP 3,042,500 / USD 4,168,225

BANKSY (christies.com)

BANKSY
Girl with Balloon (Diptych), 2005
Spray paint on canvas, in two parts
Each: 30.2 x 30.2 cm (12×12 inches)
This work is from an edition of twenty-five

Girl with Balloon Prints

Among all contemporary prints, few have achieved the liquidity and visibility of  Girl with Balloon. With more than 90 public auction results over the past six years across every major house, the work functions as a near-perfect barometer of the artist’s market and of the wider print segment itself.