Focus on this artwork and discuss the History.
The locations for this work include Waterloo Bridge as well as other sites around London, though none still remain. A 2004 version of the mural was at an east London shop in Shoreditch, sold in 2007 for £37,200 at Sotheby's, and was removed by the Sincura Group in 2014 and sold for £500,000 in September 19, 2015.Several sets of limited edition prints of the work were produced, which became valuable over time. An initial set of 25 signed prints was produced in 2003, while a set of 150 signed prints and a set of 600 unsigned prints were produced in 2004/2005. In addition to the signed and unsigned edition, a series of 88 artist proofs consisting of blue, pink, gold and purple hearts (22 of each colour) were also released. In November 2015, one of the signed set of 150 was auctioned for £56,250, more than twice its estimated value.
The artwork motif was also released in 2005 as a series of hand-sprayed paintings comprising of multiple versions including a signed diptych edition of 25 with each panel measuring 30 x 30cm.In August 2005, Banksy included it as part of a series of murals on the West Bank barrier, a variation called Balloon Debate of the girl floating above the wall while holding onto a bunch of balloons.A 2009 version was sprayed directly onto the cardboard backing of an Ikea frame.In March 2014, the third anniversary of the Syria conflict, Banksy reworked the painting to depict a Syrian refugee and added the hashtag #WithSyria. On 13 March, the image was projected on the Eiffel Tower and Nelson's Column. An animated video was released, featuring animation based on Banksy's work, narration by Idris Elba, and music by Elbow. In the following weeks, the singer Justin Bieber got a tattoo based on the original art and posted a picture of it on Instagram before deleting it. Banksy posted this picture on his Facebook page with the comment "Controversial".In July 2017, a Samsung poll of 2,000 people from the United Kingdom asked participants to rank twenty pieces of British art. The poll's results listed Balloon Girl as the people's number one favourite artwork.A print of Balloon Girl – Colour AP (Purple) was sold in an auction in September 2020 for £791,250, making it the highest bidding price for a Banksy print and the most expensive print sold in an online auction.
limited edition prints Waterloo Bridge paintings Justin Bieber hashtag West Bank barrier Elbow Samsung Eiffel Tower Shoreditch Idris Elba Sotheby's balloon Ikea floating above Banksy Nelson's Column