The street artist Banksy continues to influence the world of art without even creating new paintings. October 6, a copy of the most famous work of the author of "Girl with a balloon" was sold at the auction Sotheby's for a million pounds... and then it self-destructed.

Eyewitnesses reported that the incident occurred immediately after the announcement of the sale of the work: once the host stroke with a hammer, the alarm horn turned on and the canvas began to fall through the shredder frame.

How did he do it and what does it mean?

After the mysterious accident Banksy posted a video which shows how the artist had prepared for the destruction of the painting. It turned out that the chopper was built into the frame by the author "just in case": Banksy, hiding identity under a pseudonym, has always opposed the monetization of his works.

The "Girl with a ball" was made in a graffiti form in 2002 on the wall of a print shop in London's Shoreditch. In 2006, Banksy made a copy of the work with acrylic on canvas — apparently, right then the idea with the shredder came to his mind. The massiveness of the frame did not arise suspicion, as many of the re-works of the artist were decorated in a similar Victorian style.

At the auction the picture came from the previous owner. The picture had been given to him as a gift. The organizers and the staff of Sotheby's said that they had not have the slightest idea about the fate of the lot. The fact that the framework was not tested is common practice, if the author requests to consider the frame an integral part of the work.

However, skeptics do not believe in the innocence of the organizers. There is an opinion that the cut part is a simple falsification: the crushed piece is supposedly not exactly the same as the canvas and looks as if it is pre-tied and placed in the lower part of the picture.

"I think we just got banksied", — said the head of the Department of Modern Art of Sotheby's Alex Branczik. Anyway, the value of the work rose by half, and the act of self-destruction will forever go down in history.

How the incident has become a global trend

The public reacted to the event immediately: a lot of memes and visual "reflections" appeared on the Internet.

"Climate change by Banksy"

"What if other artists have done the same?" — ask the network users.

Famous (and not much) brands are also not left behind, they immediately responded to the event with creative advertising.

For example, IKEA offered customers a DIY kit:

Lidl grocery chain creatively designed the discount information:

Insurance services advertising has never been so relevant!

Even McDonald's is not left out: