Banksy : Discover his 20 most famous artworks

The most famous anonymous artist in the world of modern art never ceases to make the ink flow. Since 1999, his collages with an unmistakable identity are scattered on walls all over the world, between commitment and poetry. On the occasion of his last claimed work, we look back on his most outstanding successes.

Earlier in October 20121, the street artist Banksy published on his account his latest street art creation, and thus claimed authorship, after several days of suspicion from passers-by. On the walls of Nottingham, in the center of England, a girl plays hula-hoop, improvised with a bicycle tire. In front of the stencil, an old bicycle was attached to a post with a missing rear wheel. The message appears as a symbol of hope in these troubled times and could be similar to the English expression "when life gives you lemons, make lemonade", an optimistic way of transforming the small inconveniences of life into something better. Here, the young girl can no longer ride this damaged bike, but who cares, she makes a hula-hoop out of it and has fun with it, as we have to adapt to the constraints linked to the Coronavirus for example. For the artist too, it is a way to bounce back after the loss of the paternity of one of her works, following a lost lawsuit.

The work, without an official name, attracts many curious people and fans of the artist, which gives an added value to the small hairdressing salon that has seen its front notoriety.

 

What are the most famous Banksy works of art ? Top 20 Banksy works of Art

Banksy has been offering us a mural show for about twenty years now. Prolific, his works are countless. The Trendy Art offers you to look back at his 20 most famous works so that you don't miss a thing.

 

Girl With Balloon

"The Girl with Balloon" is probably one of the most seen collages of the artist. The little girl in black and white see her red heart-shaped balloon fly away. Next to it, a message was written: "there is always hope". A poetic message that appeared in 2002 on the walls of London in the South Bank district. In October 2018, a reproduction of this work was put on sale in London. But at the time of being sold for more than a million euros at auction, the British artist triggers a self-destruct mechanism that shreds the work. Banksy has since renamed it "Love is in the Bin".

 

Flower Thrower

The "Flower Thrower" also known as "Love is in the Air" has become a true icon. Made with a stencil, this street work was painted for the first time in large format, in 2003, in Jerusalem, on the wall that separates Palestine from Israel. Like a call for peace, where Molotov cocktails become flowers. In 2005, Banksy designed a new version, still visible, on the wall of a gas station in Bethlehem, West Bank. The same year, his book "Wall and Piece" was published in bookstores, with a photo of this work on the cover. Today, the price to pay for his anonymity is that he has lost the right to own his work, but in our hearts and minds, it is nothing more than a Banksy artwork.

 

Follow Your Dreams / Cancelled

The stenciled graffiti appeared in May 2010 in a low-income area of Chinatown in Boston, Massachusetts. "Follow Your Dreams" is a kind of mantra that we like to repeat to ourselves as if anything is possible. Here, the inscription is covered by a red banner on which it is written "Cancelled", dark humor to underline that in the modern world, facing inequalities and other societal problems, it is not possible anymore.

 

Kissing Coppers

"Kissing Coppers" was created in 2004. This black and white graffiti represents life-size, two British policemen, exchanging a passionate kiss. Spray-painted in 2004, the gay kiss is the talk of the town. Originally on the facade of a pub in the English city of Brighton, the owner of the pub decided, in 2011, to sell it to a New York art gallery, and had it replaced by a facsimile protected by a plexiglass window. In 2014, it was sold at auction in Miami for $575,000. The price of notoriety.

 

Show me the Monet

The oil painting parodies Claude Monet's "Bassin aux nymphéas" and takes up the romantic setting painted at the time and fills the pond with shopping carts and traffic signs. Open criticism of the society that pollutes nature without a glance at it and negatively modifies the landscape. On October 21, it was sold at auction in London for the crazy sum of 7.6 million pounds (8.5 million euros), the second-highest sale of his work.

 

Well Hung Lover

"Well Hung Lover" or "Naked Man Hanging From Window", is a collage made in June 2006 on the wall of a sexual health center, in Bristol, his hometown. It depicts an adultery scene about to end badly. The scene speaks for itself, the cheated husband, the guilty wife, and her lover. Appearing on the wall of a city-owned building, this graffiti has sparked a heated public debate: art or vandalism? Should it be kept or removed? The city council set up an online vote so that residents could decide the question. With 93% of the vote in favor, Banksy's graffiti can stay in place and becomes the first legal street art in the UK. Banksy wins over the public and gets their support in the face of the law. Strong.

 

Sweeping It Under The Carpet

"Sweeping It Under The Carpet" appeared in 2006 in the London neighborhood of Chalk Farm with a message of democratizing the subjects represented in art. He explained at the time in an English newspaper: "In dark and remote times, only popes and princes had the money to be immortalized in paint. This is a portrait of a maid named Leanne, who cleaned my room in a motel in Los Angeles. She was a woman of strong character.

 

One Nation Under CCTV

 

"One Nation Under CCTV" is a monumental work painted in central London in April 2008. This seven-meter mural features a child dressed in a red hoodie, perched on a ladder, painting with a roller the slogan "One Nation Under CCTV". On the left below, a policeman accompanied by a dog film the child. The whole being posted near a camera of the city, Banksy denounces with irony the worrying generalization of the video surveillance.

 

Slave Labour

In 2012 in London appears this child crouched over a sewing machine, making banners of British flags. "Slave Labour" coldly denounces the forced labor of children and the lack of consideration for them in so-called modern countries. Ripped from its wall in 2013, the painting is up for auction in Miami. Estimated between 500,000 and 700,000 dollars, the controversies surrounding it are too numerous and the sale is canceled, until the next time when it will reach the price of 1.1 million dollars at an auction in London.

 

The Girl with the Pierced Eardrum

The girl with the pierced eardrum is of course directly inspired by "The girl with the pearl" of the famous Dutch painter Johannes Vermeer. However, the pearl is no longer there, and as an earring, the girl has an alarm box. The day after its realization on a building façade in Bristol, the girl is splashed by a bucket of black paint. This was no reason to alter the work, as the courtyard of the building became one of the most photographed places in England.

 

Dismaland

 

Opened in August 2015, Dismaland is a temporary theme park created by Banksy with the collaboration of 58 other artists. Located in the seaside resort of Weston-Super-Mare, England, on the site of a former recreation area, the site is described by Banksy as "a family theme park unsuitable for children." Dismaland is a mix between "Disneyland" and "dismal". Composed of several attractions and settings inspired by the world of amusement parks such as duck fishing or the carousel, cynicism, and criticism are everywhere in this participatory work, a critique of consumer society.

 

The Son of a Migrant from Syria

Depicting Apple founder and former CEO Steve Jobs with a bundle and computer under his arm, "The Son of a Migrant from Syria" was painted in December 2015 at the entrance to the makeshift migrant camp in Calais, nicknamed the "Jungle." This work is one of four that Banksy has done around the refugee crisis in Calais. Banksy accompanied his work with a press release in which he expressed himself as follows: "We are often led to believe that immigration is a burden on a country's resources but Steve Jobs was the son of a Syrian immigrant. Apple is the most profitable company in the world, paying over seven billion dollars in taxes; but that was only possible because a man from Homs was able to enter the United States. This puts things in perspective.

 

Brexit

Following the exit of the United Kingdom from the European Union, the street artist Banksy creates this giant mural in May 2017, in Dover, in the southeast of England. Done on a wall near the terminal of the ferries that connect the United Kingdom to the rest of Europe, it represents a worker breaking one of the twelve stars of the European flag, as a symbol of disunity. The work has disappeared since 2019.

 

Free Zehra Dogan

"Free Zehra Dogan", is the message of the monumental painting made by Banksy and the graffiti artist Borf on March 15, 2018, in New York. A work to recall the 273 days of the captivity of the journalist and artist Zehra Dogan, convicted of terrorist propaganda. The young Kurdish woman appears behind bars, which are the days counted, pencil in hand. Simple and effective.

 

>The Sad Young Girl

"The Young Sad Girl" appears on the Bataclan (Paris) emergency door in June 2018. A tribute to the victims and survivors of the terrorist attack of November 13, 2015. This stencil filled with sadness will be stolen in January 2019 before being found last June in Italy.

 

Masked Rat with a Knife

The rat has been Banksy's alter ego for years, his totem animal in a way. In his book "Wall and Piece" he said: "Rats exist without permission. They are hated, hunted, and persecuted. They live in silent despair amid filth. And yet they are capable of bringing entire civilizations to their knees. If you are dirty, insignificant, and unloved, then rats are your ultimate model. Here masked and carrying a cutter (a tool used to cut stencils) on his arm, the rat art is found on the back of a parking sign at the Pompidou Center (Paris), in 2018 before being stolen a year later. The rat is art.

 

Season’s Greetings

The title "Season's Greetings" translates as "Happy Holidays" and is ironic. Made near a steel mill in Port Talbot in the United Kingdom, a child is having fun swallowing what we think are snowflakes but which are ashes from a burning garbage can. A way to denounce air pollution and the innocence of children wasted.

 

The Shipwrecked Child

Made in May 2019 in Venice, "The Shipwrecked Child", depicts a child holding up a pink-smoked distress fire. With the refugee cause particularly close to his heart, the theme is recurring and awareness always seems necessary. Unfortunately.

 

I’ll be home by Christmas

On December 10, 2019, in Birmingham, Banksy unveils his new stencil, that of the flight of Christmas deer whose sleigh is a bench, and Santa Claus, a drowsy homeless. A denunciation of the precariousness of housing, at the time of the holidays and overconsumption. To give more importance to the subject, the work had been unveiled on Instagram during a video playing on a zoom effect under music. The title ? "I'll be home by Christmas".

 

Game Changer

A little boy abandons his usual superheroes to play with a nurse doll, a symbol of the new heroes of the year 2020. Banksy paid a tribute to the medical staff on the front line of the fight against the Coronavirus, the "Game Changer" work was created in the hospital of Southampton in the United Kingdom. This piece will be auctioned off, with the proceeds going to fund the public hospital.

This article has allowed you to know more about the top 20 of Banksy most famous artworks. We offer some wall art that were inspired by Banksy and his most famous art like the Girl with Balloon.