A Banksy painting showing the House of Commons packed full of chimpanzees is to be auctioned and could fetch a record £2m for one of the artist’s creations.
The painting, entitled Devolved Parliament, goes on public display in London for the first time at Sotheby’s from September 28 – October 3, with an estimated hammer price of between £1.5-2 million.
Despite its seemingly timely nature, Devolved Parliament was painted in 2009, originally created for an exhibition in Bristol. It stands at 13 ft across, making it the anonymous artist’s largest known canvas.
Alec Branczik, European head of contemporary art at Sotheby’s, said: “Regardless of where you sit in the Brexit debate, there’s no doubt that this work is more pertinent now than it has ever been, capturing unprecedented levels of political chaos and confirming Banksy as the satirical polemicist of our time.”
The sale comes a year after Banksy infamously installed a shredder in the frame of Girl with Balloon, which auto-destructed just after the gavel came down at auction. The painting, the first artwork to ever have been created during a live sale, was renamed Love is in the Bin.
