Heard on The StreetJuly 31, 2020
Banksy Mediterranean Sea View was auctioned for a hospital in Bethlehem
The controversial artist, Banksy, offered the Mediterranean Sea View, a 2017 triptych, to raise money for a hospital in Bethlehem. The painting, which makes a political critique of the global migration crisis, was sold at a Sotheby's auction in London. It earned the second-highest auction result for a work by the artist.
The framed paintings seem like seascapes, but the lifebuoys and the orange life jackets on the shore reveal something different. The triptych was estimated to be worth £ 800,000 to £ 1.2m, but after a bid between two anonymous buyers, it was sold for £ 2.2m.
The works that were created for Banksy's Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, which claims to have "the worst view of any hotel in the world," refer to the barrier that separates Israel from the Palestinian territories. The work has been in the lobby since 2017 but was auctioned to raise funds for a new unit specialized in acute strokes and to buy children's rehabilitation equipment for the BASR hospital in Bethlehem.
The framed paintings seem like seascapes, but the lifebuoys and the orange life jackets on the shore reveal something different. The triptych was estimated to be worth £ 800,000 to £ 1.2m, but after a bid between two anonymous buyers, it was sold for £ 2.2m.
The works that were created for Banksy's Walled Off Hotel in Bethlehem, which claims to have "the worst view of any hotel in the world," refer to the barrier that separates Israel from the Palestinian territories. The work has been in the lobby since 2017 but was auctioned to raise funds for a new unit specialized in acute strokes and to buy children's rehabilitation equipment for the BASR hospital in Bethlehem.
