A valuable edition of Girl with Balloon by Banksy was stolen from a London art gallery this week. The artwork was quickly recovered, and the two thieves were apprehended following a police investigation.
Banksy’s Girl with Balloon Was Stolen on Sunday
The thieves broke into Grove Gallery on New Cavendish Street in central London around 11:00 P.M. on Sunday, September 8. According to court documents, two men smashed through the gallery’s glass storefront and stole a signed limited-edition print of Banksy’s Girl with Balloon, reportedly worth £270,000 (approximately $355,000). It was the only item stole from the gallery and was recovered days later, following an investigation by the Metropolitan Police. The thieves were charged on Wednesday, September 10, and remained in custody. Police said Banksy’s Girl with Balloon will be returned to the gallery.
Origin Story of Banksy’s Girl with Balloon
Girl with Balloon is one of Banksy’s most memorable artworks. It depicts a little girl in Banksy’s trademark black-and-white stenciled style, reaching toward a red heart-shaped balloon that floats just out of reach. The anonymous street artist debuted the iconic image in the early 2000s as a series of stencil murals spray-painted across London. The first editions appeared outside a shop in Shoreditch and under Waterloo Bridge in 2002. Like many street artworks, neither of the original Girl with Balloon murals remains in situ today. Banksy also made limited-edition prints of Girl with Balloon, some of which were hand-sprayed by the artist, and these are highly sought after by collectors.
Stolen Murals, Shredded Canvases, and Other Banksy Drama
Get the latest articles delivered to your inbox
Sign up to our Free Weekly Newsletter
Banksy’s art frequently falls victim to theft, defacement, and relocation. Just last month, the artist’s howling wolf mural, stencil-painted on a satellite dish, was removed from its south London perch just hours after its appearance. In 2018, a different edition of Girl with Balloon was shredded during a live auction at Sotheby’s London. Moments after the winning bid was hammered down, a mechanism concealed in the frame was activated, shredding half of the canvas. Banksy followed the stunt by officially renaming the work Love Is in the Bin and issuing a new certificate of authenticity. Sotheby’s released a statement that called it “the first artwork in history to have been created live during an auction.” In 2021, Love Is in the Bin sold again at auction for a record $25.4 million at Sotheby’s London.
