Raising Awareness for Syria

In March 2014, Banksy reworked the, by then, extremely high-profile stencil to mark the third anniversary of the civil war in Syria. The redesigned image was used to promote #withsyria, a campaign to raise awareness and rally support for the victims of the three-year-long conflict. The campaign denounces ‘years of brutality and bloodshed that have turned Syria into the epicentre of a massive humanitarian crisis’. In this version, Girl With Balloon appeared with a headscarf to depict a Syrian refugee.

Why was Girl with Balloon Shredded?

Banksy has always been in contention with the art world, and so it is unsurprising that his most recognisable print was part of perhaps the most-talked-about stunt in art history. On the 5th of October 2018, when the gavel dropped on Girl with Balloon (sold for £1.3 million) the work sank through the bottom of its gilt frame and emerged shredded to the sound of sirens. The work itself was re-authenticated by Pest Control and titled Love is in the Bin, which was then brought as a new work by an anonymous Sotheby’s client.

Why is Girl With Balloon important?

In July 2017, a Samsung poll of 2,000 people from the UK asked participants about their favourite British piece of art. The poll's results ranked Banksy's Girl with Balloon as number one. Banksy's iconic stencil was chosen over works by Constable, JMW Turner, Thomas Gainsborough and John Everett Millais, as well as Antony Gormley's sculpture The Angel of the North, Anish Kapoor's ArcelorMittal Orbit and album covers for the Beatles, Pink Floyd and the Sex Pistols.

How do I buy Girl With Balloon?

One of the easiest and most cost-effective ways of buying work by Banksy is by using us to reach a seller. MyArtBroker is a curated site, meaning we feature artists that our collectors say they want. You can find Banksy art for sale here. You’ll need to create a free account to buy or sell with us.

How can I sell my Girl With Balloon?

If you're looking to sell art by Banksy, click the link and we can help, offering 0% seller's fees as standard. We employ a number of techniques and practices in order to give a realistic and achievable valuation on any art listed on myartbroker.com. We analyse the demand for the work in question, take into consideration previous sales and auction valuations, we assess the current gallery valuation and monitor the current deals taking place via MyArtBroker every day. We regularly advise sellers on a price bracket for their artwork completely free of charge.

Girl With Balloon by Banksy Buy & Sell

Girl
With Balloon

Girl With Balloon is Banksy's most iconic image, depicting a young girl reaching for a heart-shaped balloon, just out of her grasp. Fraught with emotive interpretations—some see the girl as losing the balloon, while others see her as on the verge of catching it—it is an allegory of hope, love, and freedom.

Meaning & Analysis

Girl With Balloon is the quintessential Banksy image. Using his signature graffiti stencil technique, this motif is internationally recognisable.

Banksy released the unsigned and signed prints in 2004/2005 in low edition sizes; there are just 150 Girl With Balloon signed prints, and 600 unsigned, making it one of the most sought-after Bansky prints in his entire oeuvre.

It depicts a young girl whose hair and dress are blowing in the wind, reaching for, or releasing, a red, heart-shaped balloon that has slipped from her grasp. The gesture and the red balloon, an archetypal symbol of childhood and freedom, present a powerful message that can be read in a number of ways. Whether you see the girl as losing the balloon, or about to catch it, the meaning can be interpreted as a loss of innocence or the arrival of new hope and love.

The image first appeared in London's Southbank in 2002, together with a quotation that read ‘there is always hope’, before the council painted over it. In response, Banksy produced it again in a new context – a miniature version that appeared on the cardboard backing of a cheap Ikea frame, which quickly made its mark on the art market when it realised £73,250 at a sale at Bonhams in 2012.

Since then, versions of Girl with Balloon have realised well above this. Girl with Balloon – Colour AP (Gold) realised £1,104,000 at Sotheby’s Modern Renaissance: A Cross-Category Sale in 25 March 2021, almost double its high estimate. The screenprint flew past the previous auction record held by a Banksy print, set by Girl with Balloon – Colour AP (Purple) at Christie’s in September 2020 for £791,250.

In March 2014, Banksy reworked the, by then, extremely high-profile stencil to mark the third anniversary of the civil war in Syria. The redesigned image was used to promote #withsyria, a campaign to raise awareness and rally support for the victims of the three-year-long conflict. The campaign denounces ‘years of brutality and bloodshed that have turned Syria into the epicentre of a massive humanitarian crisis’. In this version, Girl With Balloon appeared with a headscarf to depict a Syrian refugee.
Besides Banksy, other celebrities joined forces in the campaign to raise awareness, among them Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Edith Bowman, Peter Gabriel and David Milliband, who all posted pictures of themselves holding a red balloon on their Twitter or Instagram accounts.
Photographs of Syrian children holding red balloons in the style of Banksy's famous balloon girl also went viral. As part of the same campaign, the refugee version of Girl With Balloon was projected on Nelson's Column and the Eiffel Tower.
Banksy has always been in contention with the art world, and so it is unsurprising that his most recognisable print was part of perhaps the most-talked-about stunt in art history. On the 5th of October 2018, when the gavel dropped on Girl with Balloon (sold for £1.3 million) the work sank through the bottom of its gilt frame and emerged shredded to the sound of sirens. The work itself was re-authenticated by Pest Control and titled Love is in the Bin, which was then brought as a new work by an anonymous Sotheby’s client.
In July 2017, a Samsung poll of 2,000 people from the UK asked participants about their favourite British piece of art. The poll's results ranked Banksy's Girl with Balloon as number one. Banksy's iconic stencil was chosen over works by Constable, JMW Turner, Thomas Gainsborough and John Everett Millais, as well as Antony Gormley's sculpture The Angel of the North, Anish Kapoor's ArcelorMittal Orbit and album covers for the Beatles, Pink Floyd and the Sex Pistols.
A year later Girl With Balloon became the subject of the most talked-about stunt in art history, when a signed canvas of the work self-destructed in front of the entire saleroom, as the hammer came down on the final £1.4 million bid at Sotheby's Evening Sale. Banksy posted an image of the work shredding itself on his own Instagram feed the same day, with the caption: ‘Going, going, gone … ’.
After the auction Pest Control, Banksy’s only authentication body, gave the work a new title, Love Is In The Bin. The buyer of the work, a female European collector, proceeded with her purchase, commenting, “When the hammer came down last week and the work was shredded, I was at first shocked, but gradually I began to realise that I would end up with my own piece of art history.”
Why we love Girl With Balloon... "This work is a true icon of contemporary art – like Andy Warhol’s Marilyn before her, Girl with Balloon will come to represent a specific moment in history. Well loved by the public and collectors alike, her heartbreaking gesture reaches out to all of us making this one of the most powerful artworks of the 21st century." - Joe Syer
If you're looking to sell art by Banksy, click the link and we can help, offering 0% seller's fees as standard. We employ a number of techniques and practices in order to give a realistic and achievable valuation on any art listed on myartbroker.com. We analyse the demand for the work in question, take into consideration previous sales and auction valuations, we assess the current gallery valuation and monitor the current deals taking place via MyArtBroker every day. We regularly advise sellers on a price bracket for their artwork completely free of charge.