BANKSY’S famous ‘Girl with Balloon’ has seemingly been stolen by crooks during a gallery heist.
But the shocking incident, which took place at Grove Gallery in London on Sunday, is not the first time the anonymous street artist’s work has disappeared from its intended place.
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Other pieces have disappeared, been stolen, and even been painted over.
In the most recent incident, footage from inside the gallery shows one hooded man, dressed entirely in black, approach the doors.
The man can been seen pounding the glass with a hammer-like object to make the initial break.
He then repeatedly shoulder-barges the shattered door and enters.
The figure then brazenly walks through the folded-in glass and snatches ‘Girl with Balloon’ from the wall before leaving.
Banksy’s piece was the only item taken during the break-in.
It has now been recovered and is being returned to the Grove.
Here, we reveal the full list of Banksy works which have been stolen or destroyed.
Morning Has Broken, Herne Bay
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In the Kent town of Herne Bay in 2023, a distinctly Banksy piece appeared on a decaying farmhouse.
The piece depicts a child, accompanied by a cat, opening a pair of curtains.
The drapes were fashioned from corrugated iron.
While Banksy’s work can fetch a fortune, this particular work was destined for the scrapheap.
It was demolished shortly after appearing, with neither the owner nor the company that destroyed it being aware that it was piece by the famous artist.
A contractor told KentOnline: “We had no idea it was a Banksy. It made me feel sick realising it was a Banksy – we were gutted.”
Livin The Dream/Caution, Los Angeles
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In February 2011, Banksy was a contendor for an Oscar for his documentary, Exit Through The Gift Shop.
The artist began a campaign in Los Angeles, with several pieces popping up across the city.
One such work showed iconic character Charlie Brown smiling while holding a petrol cannister in an apparent act of arson.
Another showed an intoxicated Mickey Mouse with no trousers. This piece was destroyed.
A third piece titled ‘Caution’ was also sawn out of the wall where it was stencilled.
‘London Zoo’, London
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Just hours after popping up, a Banksy work showing a wolf howling at the sky was stolen earlier this year.
The stencilled piece was painted on what looked to be a satellite dish on the roof of a Peckham building.
The work was apparently part of a series of animal-related art.
The first piece, revealed in August, showed a goat perched on a ledge as rocks fell down, above where a CCTV camera was looking.
Other artworks in the series included silhouettes of elephant reaching their trunks across to one another.
This piece was vandalised, with a series of stripes appearing across one of the animals.
Another piece shows three monkeys swinging across a Brick Lane bridge.
Some have dubbed the series ‘London Zoo’.
Appache Attack, London
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The Appache Attack work was sprayed on the exterior wall of an office in Shoreditch, London in 2006.
The piece, titled Holywell Row Happy Helicopters, depicts the aircraft with little pink bows.
But the building’s former owner became annoyed by a security light which was constantly being activated by art fans who wanted to see the work.
The art was covered over in black paint, and the site was sold to its current owner in 2007.
But the work was restored, and turned into a 6ft by 4ft framed mural.
The New Pollution, Bristol
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A piece in the St Paul’s area of Bristol which had a value of around £100,000 was demolished to make way for a block of flats in 2006.
The New Pollution, which featured a mural painted to honour a dead friend, was torn down, with a single brick from the piece, signed by Banksy, appearing for sale on eBay.
The company that demolished the wall, Springdale, said they did now know of its significance.
If You Don’t Mask…, London
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In 2020, when Britain and the world were battling coronavirus, a work depicting sneezing rats appeared on a London Underground train carriage.
The animals were sprayed onto the Circle Line train in a video, which was captioned ‘If you don’t mask – you don’t get’.
Banksy is seen in the video himself, but he wears a mask and PPE suit.
Transport for London (TfL) removed the piece due to its anti-graffiti policy.
But they said they would welcome a recreation in a more “suitable” location.
A TfL spokesperson said: “We appreciate the sentiment of encouraging people to wear face coverings, which the vast majority of customers on our transport network are doing.
“In this particular case, the work was removed some days ago due to our strict anti-graffiti policy.
“We’d like to offer Banksy the chance to do a new version of his message for our customers in a suitable location.”
Other stolen or defaced Banksy works
- March 2007: one of Banksy’s early pieces featuring a collection of blue shapes on the side of garages in Bristol was mistakenly painted over by graffiti-removal contractors Within days someone sprayed the words “Wot no Banksy?” over the contractors’ paintwork
- April 2007: Banksy’s famous 2002 piece depicting John Travolta and Samuel L. Jackson’s Pulp Fiction characters pointing bananas instead of guns was painted over by Transport for London
- June 2009: Well Hung Lover, on the side of a Bristol sexual health clinic was spattered with blue paint
- May 2011: A piece drawn around an extractor fan on the Grosvenor Hotel in Torquay was destroyed. It depicted a child drawing a robot
- August 2019: A mural showing a worker chiselling away one of the Flag of Europe’s gold stars, referencing Brexit, was found to have been painted over
