Napalm (Serpentine edition)
Napalm (Serpentine edition)
Signed Print
Banksy
£40,000-£60,000
$80,000-$120,000 Value Indicator
$70,000-$110,000 Value Indicator
¥370,000-¥550,000 Value Indicator
€50,000-€70,000 Value Indicator
$390,000-$590,000 Value Indicator
¥7,560,000-¥11,340,000 Value Indicator
$50,000-$80,000 Value Indicator
AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
There aren't enough data points on this work for a comprehensive result. Please speak to a specialist by making an enquiry.
Medium: Screenprint
Edition size: 50
Year: 2006
Size: H 30cm x W 42cm
Signed: Yes
Format: Signed Print
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Auction Results
| Auction Date | Auction House | Location | Hammer Price | Return to Seller | Buyer Paid |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| September 2021 | Forum Auctions London | United Kingdom | |||
| April 2021 | Christie's New York | United States | |||
| October 2020 | Forum Auctions London | United Kingdom | |||
| September 2019 | Forum Auctions London | United Kingdom | |||
| December 2017 | Forum Auctions London | United Kingdom | |||
| September 2017 | Christie's London | United Kingdom | |||
| January 2017 | Phillips London | United Kingdom |
Meaning & Analysis
Banksy's Napalm (Serpentine edition) (2006) is a screen print from a special edition of 50. It reworks Nick Ut's "The Terrors of War" photo, showing Mickey Mouse and Ronald McDonald holding a young girl whose village was napalmed. The piece satirizes corporations, transforming the original's war imagery into an unsettling ambiguity.
Napalm is undoubtedly one of Banksy’s most powerful, hard-hitting works, cementing his position as a pioneering political contemporary artist. Napalm is a mostly monochromatic screen print in three colours. The work references a photograph taken during the Vietnam War, showing a nine year-old-girl (Kim Phuc) running from the horror of a Napalm blast. The moment was captured by photographer Nick Ut. On this print, Banksy took the photograph as his context for creating a disarming juxtaposition – we have two supposedly friendly American icons of consumerism (Ronald McDonald and Mickey Mouse), smiling as they lead the terrorised girl away from a disaster. This artwork is a quintessential and especially strong formulation of Banksy’s critique of the military-industrialist complex, linking violent conflict and capitalism. This is also demonstrated in other works like Bomb Hugger and Happy Choppers.
