Rare Banksy painting sells for €5.1 million at London auction

A rare Banksy painting, which offers a satirical twist on Jack Vettriano’s renowned work The Singing Butler, has sold for nearly £4.3 million (€5.1 million) at a London auction, Sotheby’s announced on Tuesday.

The sale of Crude Oil (Vettriano) coincided with the news of Scottish artist Mr Vettriano’s death at the age of 73, which was confirmed just a day earlier.

Mr Vettriano’s The Singing Butler, which depicts a formally dressed couple dancing on a windswept beach while a maid and butler hold umbrellas to shield them, became a cultural phenomenon. It broke records for Scottish art sales when it fetched £744,800 at auction in 2004. The painting went on to become the UK’s top-selling print reproduction, even outselling classics by Monet and Van Gogh.

Banksy’s interpretation, Crude Oil (Vettriano) – sometimes referred to as Toxic Beach – reimagines the iconic scene with a dark, environmental twist. His version features a sinking oil tanker in the background, while two figures in hazmat suits are shown wheeling a barrel of toxic waste onto the shore.

The piece was sold at Sotheby’s by American musician and record producer Mark Hoppus, best known as a founding member of pop-punk band Blink-182.

According to Sotheby’s, Banksy used his trademark blend of humour and irony to transform the idyllic beach scene into a commentary on modern environmental and capitalist crises. The auction house noted that the work feels particularly relevant today, as the world grapples with the increasingly frequent effects of climate change and ecological disasters.

The painting was first shown at Banksy’s 2005 exhibition, Crude Oils: A Gallery of Re-mixed Masterpieces, Vandalism and Vermin, which featured parodies and reinterpretations of famous artworks.

A painting that witnessed ‘laughter and tears’

Reflecting on the sale, Mr Hoppus shared that Crude Oil (Vettriano) had been a much-loved part of his family’s home for many years.

“It’s seen laughter and tears and parties and arguments. Our son grew up in front of it,” he remarked. However, he added that the time felt right to pass the painting on, with plans to reinvest some of the proceeds into works by younger, up-and-coming artists.

The timing of the auction also prompted an outpouring of tributes to Vettriano, the self-taught Scottish artist whose work became a household name, attracting high-profile fans including actor Jack Nicholson.

Mr Vettriano was found dead at his home in Nice, France, over the weekend, according to his publicist. Scotland’s First Minister, John Swinney, praised his remarkable journey – from a modest upbringing in an industrial town in Fife to becoming one of the most recognisable and commercially successful contemporary artists in the UK.

Mr Vettriano, who left school at 15 to work as a mining apprentice, only discovered his passion for painting after receiving a set of watercolours as a gift on his 21st birthday. Despite his commercial success, he remained something of an outsider in the art establishment, with critics often dismissing his work. In 2015, Vettriano hit back at those critics, claiming they resented his popularity because it undermined their authority.

Banksy, whose true identity has never been confirmed, has built a global reputation for thought-provoking murals, often created using his distinctive stencilling technique. Since the early 2000s, his works have commanded millions at auctions, attracting collectors from across the world.

Sotheby’s also revealed that Hoppus will donate a portion of the proceeds to two Los Angeles-based medical charities, as well as the California Fire Foundation, in response to the devastating wildfires that struck the region in January.