BANKSY // Girl With Balloon

Banksy, Girl and Balloon, 2003.
Stencil spray-paint on canvas, 40 × 40 cm. Edition of 25.
© Banksy.

Banksy Editions Page

First appearing in London in 2003, Girl with a Balloon began as a simple stencil on a grey wall near Waterloo Bridge. The image showed a young girl reaching towards a red, heart-shaped balloon, just out of her grasp. No explanation was given, yet the work’s quiet mix of hope and loss struck a chord with passers-by. Over time, the piece disappeared beneath layers of paint, but not before it had been photographed, shared and reimagined countless times. In 2004, the image appeared again as a series of prints, cementing its place as one of Banksy’s most recognisable works.

Enquire
ORIGINS OF THE MOTIF
"Some people become cops because they want to make the world a better place. Some people become vandals because they want to make the world a better looking place"

- Banksy, Wall and Piece

First appearing as a stencil on a wall near London’s Waterloo Bridge in 2003, Girl with a Balloon quickly became one of Banksy’s most recognisable and enduring images. The work’s power lies in its simplicity, a young girl reaching for a red, heart-shaped balloon that drifts just beyond her grasp, and its ability to be interpreted as both hopeful and bittersweet. Though the original street pieces have long since vanished, the motif was preserved in a 2003 canvas series and a 2004 print release, securing its place in contemporary visual culture. Over time, Girl with a Balloon has evolved beyond its street origins, becoming a global symbol of love, loss and aspiration, while remaining firmly rooted in Banksy’s politically conscious and emotionally resonant approach to art.
- Girl with Balloon, 2002
  © Banksy.
- Girl with Ballon, 2003
  © Banksy.
- Girl with Ballon, 2004
  © Banksy.
- Girl with Balloon (Diptych), 2005
  © Banksy.
- Girl with Balloon, 2006
  © Banksy.
AUCTION PRANK
Banksy, Love Is In The Bin, 2018.
Created during Sotheby’s London auction on 5 October 2018, when Girl with Balloon partially shredded itself in the frame.
© Banksy.

On 5 October 2018, a framed version of Girl with a Balloon sold at Sotheby’s London for £1,042,000. Moments after the hammer fell, an alarm sounded from within the frame and the canvas began to pass through a concealed shredder, stopping halfway and leaving the lower portion in strips. The audacious stunt stunned the audience and immediately made headlines worldwide, with many calling it the greatest prank in art history. Days later, Banksy released a video revealing that he had secretly installed the shredder into the frame years earlier, preparing it for the moment the work might be commodified at auction. Quoting Picasso, he explained his rationale: “The urge to destroy is also a creative urge.”

The event was more than a prank. It was a sharp critique of the commercialisation of art, unfolding at the very heart of the market itself. By targeting Sotheby’s, one of the most powerful auction houses in the world, Banksy confronted the mechanisms that turn subversive street imagery into million-pound collectibles. The act exposed the contradictions between art as a tool for political commentary and art as a luxury asset traded among elite collectors.

The work, retitled Love is in the Bin, quickly became one of the most discussed and recognisable artworks of the 21st century. Far from destroying its value, the act elevated it into art history. Sotheby’s insisted the shredding was not pre-arranged, and the winning bidder embraced the piece in its altered state, cementing its status as a symbol of both resistance and irony within the art market. In 2021, the work returned to auction and achieved a staggering £18.5 million, underscoring the paradox that Banksy had originally sought to highlight: destruction can become creation, and protest itself can be absorbed into the very system it critiques.