Three Banksy pieces belonging to singer Robbie Williams have gone on display ahead of a sale next month at Sotheby’s, as part of a series of modern and contemporary art auctions.
Works by Rene Magritte, Claude Monet, Pablo Picasso and David Hockney will also go under the hammer in various sales alongside the artwork from the Angels star’s personal collection.
Three of Banksy’s most recognisable works, with a combined estimated value of £7 million to £10 million, will be on sale as part of the Now Evening auction in March.
The pieces include Kissing Coppers, which was originally unveiled as a mural on the streets of Brighton.
The famous image first emerged on the exterior of The Prince Albert Pub in the East Sussex seaside town in 2004.
Following repeated vandalism the original mural was removed in 2014.
Williams’ version of Kissing Coppers was made by Banksy in 2005 and its sale will mark the first time a Kissing Coppers on canvas has been offered on the secondary market.
The selection also includes a version of Girl With Balloon depicted on metal, with an estimated value of £2 million to £3 million, the first of its kind to appear at auction.
The third Banksy being sold by 48-year-old Williams is Vandalised Oils (Choppers), which depicts two helicopters disrupting a pastoral scene from the artist’s Vandalised Oils series, and is estimated to fetch £2.5 million to £3.5 million.
As part of the Modern and Contemporary Evening Auction taking place on the same day, Magritte’s L’Empire des Lumieres is estimated to sell for more than £45 million.
The work was created in 1961 for Magritte’s close friend Baroness Anne-Marie Gillion Crowet, the daughter of Magritte’s patron, Belgian Surrealist collector Pierre Crowet, and has remained in the family ever since.
Alongside it will be Monet’s Nympheas, painted between 1914 and 1917, and Picasso’s Buste de Femme Accoudee, painted in 1938 to chart the artist’s evolving relationship with his muse, Marie-Therese Walter, and the increasingly dominant presence of his new lover, Dora Maar.
Hockney’s Garrowby Hill, 2017, will also be among the lots. It depicts the British countryside combined with the bright colours of Los Angeles, California, where Hockney had been living for many years shortly before he painted the artwork.
The auctions will take place at Sotheby’s in London on March 2 2022 – with the Now Evening auction at 4pm and the Modern and Contemporary Evening Auction at 5pm.
