Banksy - Devolved Parliament Record At Auction - 11 Millions Euro

Banksy: Record at Auction! 11 Mln for the artworks "Devolved Parliament" sold at Sotheby's Auction at the highest price ever reached for Banksy Artworks.

On the 3rd of October 2019 at Sotheby's in London, the Banksy Artwork "Devolved Parliament" has been sold at 11.1 Milions Euro.

We remind you that Banksy has opened, just couple of days ago, the Pop-Up Store in London named Gross Domestic Product.

Banksy artwork, wich represents Westminster House of Commons with the deputies portraied as chimpazees, has exceeded every record and sale prediction.

The most famous Street Artist  has again schocked everyone with an astounding price, greately overcoming the estimation of 1,5/2 millions of pounds.

Sotheby's Auction

The Auction at Sotheby's, where the painting by Banksy Devolved Parliament has been sold, lasted for 13 minutes, and it showed a real price-rise battle.

Between bids in the room and those at the telphone, the price has grown until exceeding the 11 millions of euro, an absolute record price.

Banksy Devolved Parliament was made in 2009 and represents, in an impeccablean academic style, the British Parliament crowded with chimpazees as deputies.

On the occasion of this auction, Sotheby's strongly increased the levels of security, so to avoid other possible surprises by the unpredictable Banksy.

As a matter of fact, a year ago and in the same room, the artwork Balloon Girl was quasi-destroyed by a machinery hidded within the framed painting, after it had been sold for more than 1 million euro.

Until now, the highest price for an artwork by Banksy was of 1,9 millions dollars, set in 2008 in New York, for a work realized with Damien Hirst, titled Keep it Spotless.

Devolved Parliament goes at auction during a period that, politically speaking, is quite difficult for Great Britain, bacause of Brexit and of the lack of clarity about UK future, something that probably has affected the interest about the artwork during the auction.

Devolved Parliament: Revisited artwork by Banksy?

The Artwork by Banksy Devolved Parliament was publicly exhibited for the first time in June 2009 in Bristol, native city of the artist, during a show 12-weeks long.

On that occasion, Banksy attracted 300000 people willing to stay in line to admire his artworks. And, although the show was free, there were collected donations for 45000£.

In this work,Banksy depicts the ironic version of the British Parliament, where the deputies are represented as both screaming and worried chimpazees.

The artist wants to emphasize, also through the title, the critical situation of the Parliament, and the political evolutionary regression that is afflicting Grea Britain, therefore calling the work "Devolved Parialment".

Originally this Artwork by Banksy was titled "Question Time", but seems that it was modified in "Developed Parliament" after some changes made by the artist.

In fact, more attentive viewers have noticed some changes between the canvas exhibited in 2009 and the one sold at Sotheby's 10 years later.

Some of the differences that can be noticed between Devolved Parliament and Question Time  are:

• The two big chandeliers, which in the first verion are swicthed on, but that does not appear in the second one;
• in the lower corner on the left, the first version represents the chimpanzee holding up a banana, while in the second version the banana is pointed downward;
• the wooden intaglio next to the chimpazee with the banana of the first version is higher and of a different shape compared to the one represented in the second one.

Someone has theorised that they could be two different arwtorks, while Sotheby's has affirmed the painting is the same one exhibited in 2009 and reworked by the artist before selling it to the former owner in 2011.

Related works. Banksy: Brexit and the New Mural

In May 2017 in Dover, close to the harbour area that connect UK to the European continent, appeared the new mural by Banksy, Brexit.

The work was born after the Referendum that confirmed the exit of Great Britain from the European Union, a decision not shared by the artist.

On this Mural Banksy painted a worker on a latter removing, with hammer and chisel, one of the stars represented on the Europe flag, a clear metaphor of UK.

At the end of August 2019, within a night span, the mural by Banksy has mysteriously disappeared, leaving a white wall behind.

It is still not clear the reason of the removal, but, during the years, the owners of the building have remarked several times that they were considering if either preserve or remove the artwork.

Dover's citizens have not really acceped this decision, since the Work by Banksy had brought an increase in tourism and, therefore, benefits for the local economy.

On the other hand, Banksy, who always thinks about the next plot twist, answered to the removal of his mural by making a new one, on the same wall but with a different image.

This time, he represents the same worker on the top of a latter who crave a single star on a white flag, while the European Flag is depicted all wrinkly at the bottom.

On his Instagram page, the artist has also announced that the work was supposed to evolve in this way from the beginning, and that he would have modify it himself in prevision of the Brexit.

For Banksy, as he writes himself, also a white flag can perfectly represent Brexit.