Banksy tribute to Monet's water lilies could fetch up to £5m

Show me the Monet will be a highlight of a livestream auction of artworks at Sotheby's in London on October 21

Banksy's Show Me The Monet

Banksy's  Show me the Monet comes up at Sotheby's in London on October 21 with an estimate of £3m-£5m.

Painted in 2005, it adds abandoned shopping trolleys and a traffic cone to the garden scene.

Show me the Monet is from the Crude Oils series where the artist remixes well-known artworks. Among other works in the series are Vincent van Gogh’s Sunflowers portrayed wilting or dead, Edward Hopper’s Nighthawks augmented by an angry man in Union Jack boxer shorts moments after breaking the bar window with a chair, and Andy Warhol’s Marilyn Monroe re-faced with Kate Moss. 

The artist is quoted saying: “If you want to survive as a graffiti writer when you go indoors, I figured your only option is to carry on painting over things that don’t belong to you there either.” 

According to Sotheby's Show me the Monet may be interpreted as a comment on consumerist culture, a criticism of the commercialisation of art, a lament for the demise of the environment, or all of the above. 

It will be a highlight of a livestream auction which brings together two sales of modern and contemporary art held in sequence in Paris and London.