Several Banksy works owned by British pop star Robbie Williams went under the hammer at Sotheby’s in London yesterday for several million. A version of the ‘Girl with a Balloon’ spray-painted on metal fetched around £2.8 million (€3.3 million), according to Sotheby’s. Another version of the famous work was shredded by a hidden device in the frame at a 2018 auction shortly after it was sold.
The oil painting ‘Vandalised Oil (Choppers)’ – a recreation of an 18th- or 19th-century landscape painting with two gunships spray-painted above – changed hands on Wednesday for around £4.4million.
Williams apparently withdrew at the last minute the canvas copy of Kissing Coppers, which first appeared on a mural in the seaside town of Brighton in 2004. It shows two British bobbys kissing tightly. It was initially not clear why the 48-year-old apparently changed his mind. The auction house only announced that the work had been withdrawn.
Magritte picture for 70 million euros
Another work achieved the highest price of the evening. In an auction that also took place yesterday at Sotheby’s, the painting “L’empire des lumieres” by Rene Magritte was sold for 59.4 million (equivalent to around 71.4 million euros).