Banksy artwork sells for AED 20 million at auction

Banksy's re-imagining of the 1992 painting "The Singing Butler" by Scottish artist Jack Vettriano, whose death was announced last week, has sold at auction for $5.4 million (AED 20 million).

The artwork was sold to a private collector at Sotherby's in London, just days after Vettriano was found dead aged 73 in France.

The painting depicts Vettriano's butler serenading a dancing couple on a beach, with Banksy' addition of a sinking oil liner and two figures in hazmat suits moving a barrel of toxic waste in the background.

The painting, bought by the co-founder of pop-punk band blink-182 Mark Hoppus and his wife Skye in 2011, was offered at Sotheby’s London "Modern & Contemporary Evening Auction", with an estimate of $3.81 million - $6.35 million (AED 14 million - AED 23 million).

"It was first exhibited in (Banksy's) landmark exhibition in Notting Hill in 2005, which really propelled him into the public sphere," Mackie Hayden-Cook, specialist, contemporary art at Sotheby's, told Reuters.

Speaking before news of Vettriano's death, she linked Banksy's decision to re-imagine his work to the parallels between the two artists at the time.

"Like Banksy, you have a really, really popular artist that is loved by the masses and appreciated by many. But for whatever reason, he was snubbed by the art world," Hayden-Cook said.

Hoppus said part of the sale proceeds would go to medical charities and the California Fire Foundation, following the Los Angeles wildfires. He and his wife also intend to buy new art.

“Coming up in punk rock, it was always the ethos that if your band got any success, you brought your friends up with you," he told Reuters on Sunday.

"So with this art sale, I hope to take some of the money and put it back into the art community with up-and-coming artists that we're inspired by and just continue that. I want to be a punk rock Medici.”