A portrait of British street artist Banksy was sold at a price of three million dollars yesterday evening, at an auction organized by Sotheby´s in London, with the money going to help a hospital in Bethlehem.
The work is entitled "A View of the Mediterranean 2017" and it consists of three panels. The paintings represent three scenes of a rough sea with orange lifeboats on the beach, "in reference to the lives that were lost at sea during the migrant crisis in Europe," Sotheby´s explained on its website.
The trilogy work was on display at the “World of Hotel” opened by Banksy in Bethlehem in 2017.
The work has grossed two million and 235,000 pounds ($ 2.9 million) and is far from the record price for one of the artist´s work recorded in October with the "Divold Parliament" painting. It was estimated to cost between 800 thousand and 1,2 million pounds.
Banksy donated a proceeding auction yesterday, Tuesday, to finance the construction of a department specializing in vascular problems and acute stroke in a hospital in Bethlehem and the purchase of rehabilitation kits for children.
Banksy, whose identity remains confidential, said in a rare comment: "We are often pushed into believing that immigration is a burden on state resources, but Steve Jobs was the son of a Syrian immigrant. Apple is the world´s largest revenue-generating company ... and it exists only because they have allowed A young man from Homs entered the country. "
Banksy ate Jobs in a work titled "Ibn Muhajir from Syria" and showed him carrying an Apple backpack and computer.
The artist, who is one of the most famous street artists in the world, completed several drawings in the city of Bethlehem, in which he opened in 2017 a hotel whose rooms overlook the separation wall erected by the occupation in the West Bank.
