What is the best Banksy artwork of all time?
Banksy's anonymous street art has captivated the world for decades — politically charged, darkly funny, and always surprising. From Girl with Balloon to Devolved Parliament, which Banksy artwork is the greatest of all time?
1Girl with BalloonThe 2002 London stencil of a small girl reaching for a heart-shaped red balloon, voted the UK's favourite artwork in a national poll.
2Love Is In The BinThe 2018 self-destructing artwork that shredded itself moments after selling for £1 million at Sotheby's, becoming the first artwork ever created live at auction.
3Flower ThrowerA 2003 West Bank mural of a masked protester hurling a bouquet of flowers instead of a weapon, one of Banksy's most enduring anti-war images.
4NapalmA searing commentary showing Vietnam War napalm girl Phan Thi Kim Phúc flanked by Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald, indicting Western consumerism.
5Pulp FictionA stencil reimagining the iconic Pulp Fiction scene with Travolta and Jackson holding bananas instead of guns, a playful critique of pop culture violence.
6Kissing CoppersA provocative 2004 Brighton mural of two male police officers kissing tenderly, challenging homophobia and authority in equal measure.
7Game ChangerA 2020 NHS tribute showing a boy playing with a nurse superhero action figure, gifted to University Hospital Southampton during the pandemic.
8Devolved ParliamentA 2009 painting showing Britain's House of Commons filled with chimpanzees, which sold for £9.9 million — Banksy's auction record at the time.
9NOLAA 2008 New Orleans street piece depicting a girl with an umbrella raining from inside, a haunting metaphor for institutional failure after Hurricane Katrina.
10MoronsA 2007 print satirizing art collectors with a crowd of auction bidders eagerly purchasing a painting that reads "I can't believe you morons actually buy this shit."
11Choose Your WeaponA series depicting a hooded figure walking a dog on a leash fashioned from a boom box, playfully connecting street culture, music, and identity.
12The Mild Mild WestA 1999 Bristol mural of a white teddy bear about to throw a Molotov cocktail at riot police, Banksy's first major public breakthrough piece.
13Mobile LoversA 2014 piece showing a couple locked in an embrace but both absorbed in their smartphones, a prescient meditation on digital disconnection.
14Monkey QueenA cheeky 2012 Diamond Jubilee piece replacing Queen Elizabeth II with a grinning chimpanzee on a royal ceremonial portrait.
Comments
No comments yet. Be the first!
