
Sotheby’s has unveiled Banksy’s Show me the Monet, the street artist’s take on Claude Monet’s painting of his Giverny water lily garden to sell at auction this fall. The work is expected to sell for a price between £3-5 million ($3.8-$6.5 million) in Sotheby’s London contemporary evening sale on October 21.
According to the Sotheby’s statement, the work features a riff on the famed impressionist painting with a contemporary twist that speaks to “society’s disregard for the environment in favour of wasteful consumerism.” Completed in 2005, Show Me the Monet is an example of Banksy’s “remixes” of canonical artworks. The series is known as ‘Crude Oils’, and in addition to Show Me the Monet, they include his spins on Van Gogh’s Sunflowers; Jack Vettriano’s Singing Butler, and Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe. Show Me the Monet was first shown in the street artist’s London debut at 100 Westbourne Grove in 2005. Since its creation, it has resided with a single private owner.
In October last year, Banksy’s Devolved Parliament, a satirical painting depicting members of the British House of Commons replaced with chimpanzees, sold for £9.9 million ($12 million) during a Sotheby’s London evening sale, setting a new record for the artist.