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Donated to the auction house Sotheby's by the street artist, the 2017 triptych by Banksy Mediterranean Sea View was sold for £2.2 million. The proceeds will be donated to the BASR (Bethlehem Arab Society for Rehabilitation) hospital in Bethlehem.
With a strong political message, the triptych is dedicated to those who lost their lives at sea during the European migrations, a theme dear to Banksy. The three paintings show suggestive visions of a seascape, but, behind the idyllic vision, several clues reveal a deeper meaning. Lifejackets, oars, buoys are in fact abandoned on the beach in a clear reference to the problem of immigration and deaths at sea.
As stated by Alex Branczik, head of Sotheby's contemporary art department for Europe, the work " while posing as a 19th-century seascape, spotlights one of the burning issues of the 21st century".
Banksy: auction record and value
With the sale of Mediterranean Sea View for £2.235.000 (compared to an estimate of £800.000 - £1.200.000) the work got the podium for second place among Banksy's auction records.
The oil on canvas by Banksy Devolved Parliament, a satirical reproduction of the English parliament in which chimpanzees take the place of parliamentarians, still represents Banksy’s auction record. The 2009 work was in fact sold in 2019 for £9.879.500, setting the street artist's still unbeaten record.
