A never-before-seen Banksy painting, tipped to become his most expensive work, is heading to auction with a staggering $18 million price tag. The artwork, titled Girl and Balloon on Found Landscape, will go under the hammer in a glitzy invitation-only sale in New York on May 20, after making its public debut inside Tiffany & Co.'s iconic Fifth Avenue flagship store, The Landmark.
The piece combines two of Banksy's most famous signatures in one work: his beloved Girl with Balloon motif and his ultra-rare Crude Oil series — a collection widely considered among the artist's most desirable creations. The estimate of $13–18 million is the highest ever placed on a Banksy at auction.
The sale is being orchestrated by Fair Warning, the boutique auction platform founded by high-profile art dealer Loïc Gouzer, who did not hold back in his assessment of the mysterious Bristol-born artist. 'Banksy is the most consequential artist of our time,' Gouzer declared. 'He is the one from this generation most likely to break into the $100 million tier. Banksy is an outsider - not a product of the art world - and that is precisely why the establishment has never fully embraced him.'
Gouzer compared the reaction to the early career of Jean-Michel Basquiat, whose meteoric rise initially unsettled critics before he became one of the most celebrated artists in modern history. Banksy's Girl with Balloon image first appeared as graffiti in London in 2002 before becoming one of the most recognisable artworks on the planet. By 2017 it had been voted Britain's favourite artwork, beating Turner, Constable and Hockney.
But it was a stunt the following year that turned the image into global folklore. Moments after a framed version of Girl with Balloon sold at auction in London, the artwork famously self-destructed through a hidden shredder concealed inside the frame. The shredded piece, later renamed Love is in the Bin, eventually sold again for $25.4 million in 2021.
Now experts believe Girl and Balloon on Found Landscape could become the next landmark Banksy work. The piece belongs to the artist's coveted Crude Oils series, first unveiled in 2005, in which Banksy vandalised traditional paintings with jarring symbols of modern chaos. Among the series' most notorious works were a Monet-style lily pond filled with shopping carts, a decaying version of Van Gogh's Sunflowers, and a Madonna and Child interrupted by an iPod.
Instead of corrupting a classic image with modern disorder, Banksy places his own iconic Girl with Balloon centre stage, reducing the original thrift-store landscape beneath it to little more than background scenery. Gouzer went even further, calling the work 'the Mona Lisa of his oeuvre.' 'It's simple, direct, universally legible,' he said. 'An image that distills the mythology of the artist into a single unforgettable icon.'
Banksy created the painting in 2012, at a moment when the anonymous provocateur was transitioning from street artist to global cultural phenomenon. The work was later entrusted to Danny Comden, Banksy's longtime West Coast associate known for quietly placing the artist's works into elite private collections around the world. Now consigned by an unnamed collector, the painting is expected to draw fierce competition from billionaire buyers across the US, Europe and the Middle East.
The dramatic auction will be staged on the 10th floor of Tiffany's glittering Manhattan flagship and led by legendary auctioneer Jussi Pylkkänen, with bids accepted in person, by phone and through Fair Warning's app. The unveiling also marks a rare crossover between luxury fashion and the contemporary art market, with nearly 40 works by artists including Damien Hirst, Julian Schnabel, Rashid Johnson, Anna Weyant and Daniel Arsham currently installed throughout Tiffany's store.
Fair Warning itself has become one of the art world's most talked-about disruptors since launching in 2020. Despite staging only two live auctions so far, the company has already handled multimillion-dollar works by Andy Warhol, Pablo Picasso and Jean-Michel Basquiat, while setting records for a string of rising contemporary artists. But all eyes are now on Banksy and whether his latest masterpiece can finally smash through the art market's ultimate barrier.
