banksy london map shows where to see street artist’s best graffiti

London is home to several Banksy murals (Picture: Gettybelindajiao/Metro)

Banksy is an anonymous British graffiti artist who brings political street art to walls,bridges,and buildings worldwide.

Since rising to fame in the late 1990s,the artist’s witty,satirical murals and daring pranks have earned him millions of pounds.

New pieces by the anonymous artist pop up on a regular basis,most recently in Clerkenwell Green in Farringdon,London and another in France.

The graffiti,showing a girl holding balloons,is sprayed on what appears to be a public toilet. The circles were already there.

Efforts are already underway to protect the art,with a notice telling passers-by not to tamper or remove it. But the style and the balloons suggest Banksy is the person behind it.

So,where else in London can you see his work? Metro has outlined a few for you below.

Brick Lane

Three swinging monkeys appeared below an Overground line (Picture: EPA)

Between August 5 and 12,2024,nine animal-themed Banksy artworks appeared throughout London.

Some were removed,most lawfully,but one,a howling wolf on a satellite dish was stolen. A few,however,remain,including these three swinging monkeys below an Overground line in Brick Lane,east London.

Walthamstow

Pelicans munching on fish in Walthamstow (Picture: Getty)

Why has so much of Banksy’s art been destroyed?

The rocketing price of Banksy’s work means that many of his pieces vanish without warning as building owners try to make a profit.

An entire section of a shop wall in Lowestoft that displayed an original Banksy was removed in 2021 and taken to a secret location.

In December 2023,a Banksy artwork in Peckham of three drones on a traffic stop sign was stolen less than an hour after it was put up.

A man with bolt cutters tore the piece down and another man on a Lime rental bike rode away with it.

The Peckham sign was stolen in broad daylight (Picture: Aaron Chown/PA Wire)

One gallery owner told the BBC that the sign could be worth up to £500,000.

In other instances,though,Banksy’s work has been accidentally destroyed.

Also in 2023 builders unknowingly demolished a Banksy mural on the side of a derelict farmhouse in Kent.

‘It made me feel sick realising it was a Banksy – we were gutted. We started demolishing it yesterday,’ one of the contractors involved said.

‘The landowner watched us do it and didn’t know either.’

Last year,several new Banksy pieces popped up across London,one day after another – but not all of them are still in place.

A goat painted onto the side of a gun factory building near Kew Gardens last August was taken down earlier this year,while a piece depicting three swinging monkeys on a bridge in Brick Lane was removed overnight in December.

One piece,painted on a London Zoo gate which depicted a gorilla holding up a shutter to allow other animals to escape,was removed for ‘safekeeping’ after several other pieces were defaced.

His sixth piece in a row,a black cat stretching on a billboard in Edgware Road,Cricklewood,was taken down within days of appearing.

And a more humorous piece,depicting a rhino mounting an abandoned Nissan Micra,was defaced within a matter of days.

Why did Banksy destroy his own art?

In 2018,a Banksy painting called Girl With Balloon was sold for more than £1 million at auction house Sotheby’s – and was shredded just moments later.

The price of the art increased after the shredding (Picture: Jack Taylor/Getty Images)

The auctioneers were unaware that Banksy had installed a shredding mechanism into the painting’s frame.

Following the incident,Alex Branczik,Sotheby’s senior director,said: ‘It appears we just got Banksy-ed.’

The original buyer still purchased the artwork at the full original price,but the painting was renamed from Girl With Balloon to Love is in the Bin.

Then,in 2021,the painting was sold again – this time setting the record for the most expensive painting to be sold at auction at £18.6 million.

How much is Banksy’s art worth?

Banksy doesn’t sell his own artwork. However,pieces of his work owned by other people have fetched tens of millions at auction.

The picture fetched £16.8 million (Picture: Andrew Matthews/PA Wire)

He gave the artwork Game Changer to Southampton Hospital in 2020 as a thank you to NHS workers. The painting was later sold for £16.8million,with the money going towards NHS causes.

A 2005 painting called Sunflowers From Petrol Station,which parodied Van Gogh’s famous sunflower paintings,fetched £10.7million in 2021 when it was sold by fashion designer Sir Paul Smith.

And the artist reportedly made £22.7million selling his prints in the year to April 2025.

Who is Banksy?

The mystery surrounding Banksy has,understandably,made people eager to find out his true identity.

One of Banksy’s iconic murals (Picture: REX/Shutterstock)

Though nothing’s ever been verified,there have been a few rumours,clues,and hints as to who they actually are.

Of course,it’s thought that Banksy wants to keep their identity a secret,given that graffiti is a crime – but myths about their real name are common,often linking back to the beginning of their career,as well as those who have publicly ‘named’ them.

Banksy began their artistic journey as one of Bristol’s DryBreadZ Crew. They were influenced by others on the Bristol Underground Scene – including 3D,better known as Robert Del Naja,one of the members of the band Massive Attack.

Rumours that Banksy is Massive Attack’s Robert Del Naja have persisted. The performer identified himself as a personal friend of Banksy,and in June 2017,rapper Goldie referred to Banksy as ‘Rob’ when conversing about art in a podcast interview with Scroobius Pip.

Robert Del Naja of Massive Attack has denied claims that he is Banksy (Picture: Brian Rasic/WireImage)

Interestingly,the timing of Banksy’s past works across the world is in tandem with the touring schedule of Massive Attack.

However,Goldie may have been referring to Robin Gunningham,who was said to be Banksy by some former schoolmates from Bristol and associates in a 2008 Mail on Sunday investigation.

The suggestion that Robin Gunningham was Banksy was supported by the study of locations of Banksy’s art,which correlated with the known movements of Gunningham.

In an interview with a Bristol community magazine,Boundless,Banksy was asked about the Robert De Naja rumours. When asked if he would confirm the claim that he was indeed Robert,he said simply: ‘No,because I’m not.’

Speculation that Banksy is a group or collective of graffiti artists is fairly common,too,and in 2014 an internet hoax circulated that Banksy had been arrested.

This is an updated version of an article originally published in August 2023.