Banksy’s Congestion Charge (2004) from fashion icon Paul Smith’s art collection could fetch as much as £1.8 million at auction this week.
Smith bought the Turner-style painting from Banky’s 2004 pop-up exhibition “Santa’s Ghetto” in London and has held onto the piece ever since.
The painting, aimed at mocking the eco-friendly congestion charge introduced in 2004 to prevent cars from entering central London, depicts a scene rich with trees and plants over which the artist has painted a “congestion charging” street sign.
Ralph Taylor, Bonhams' global head of post-war and contemporary art, said in a statement, “Banksy’s Vandalized Oils have consistently proven to be amongst the most valuable and highly coveted works in his oeuvre, and Congestion Charge is no exception.”
The “Vandalized Oils”, otherwise known as “Crude Oils” paintings, were made famous in 2005 at the London exhibition and forced visitors to share the exhibition space with 200 live rats. London collectors Roland and Jane Cowan were unphased and offered Banksy the basement at 100 Westbourne Grove in west London. In these 20 featured works, the artist riffs on traditional oil paintings by Old Masters such as Van Gogh, Hopper, Warhol, Turner and Monet.
Above Image: Paul Smith, Courtesy of Bonhams
Congestion charge is part of the Vandalized Oils series and “demonstrates Banksy’s indisputable and enduring currency as social commentator and contemporary artist,” says Taylor. “This painting is one of the first examples of his series which translate Banksy’s subversive interventions in urban spaces to the elite spaces of high art.”
Other Vandalized Oils have reached some of Banksy’s highest prices. Congestion Charge isn’t the first Banksy work to be sold by Smith. Sunflowers from Petrol Station (2005), a riff on Van Gogh, sold at Christie’s New York in November 2021, within estimate for $14.6 million and is currently the artist’s third-highest price.
Smith explained to Christie’s at the time: “What initially attracted me to Banksy was his confidence and clarity to communicate something exactly as it is. I was so impressed by his observations of what was happening in the world and that remains true of the work he’s doing today. His political statements are completely on point, really profound, really brave and consistently delivered in a modern way.”
The artist’s current auction record is for the painting Love Is in the Bin (2018), which sold for an impressive $25.4 million at Sotheby’s London in October 2021.
Smith’s passion for art is well known. Over the years, he has collected works by Peter Blake, David Hockney, Shepard Fairey and Patti Smith and even served as a guest artistic director for the “Picasso Celebration” exhibition at the Picasso Museum in Paris in March this year.
Check out Banksy’s “most talked about piece of art in the world”, represented by Red Eight here.
Main image: Congestion Charge (2004). Photo: Courtesy of Bonhams