AUTHOR'S CHOICE

Creation Through Ruin: The Paradox of Self-Destruction

The impetus to destroy comes from creative expression, a need to erase past works, mental anguish. Artists do this act of madness due to disillusion, disappointment, anxiety, depression and mental illness...

BANKSY

"Girl With Balloon” is a famous artwork that was voted in 2017 the nation’s favourite artwork. This painting was in an auction in 2018, and it self-destructed. It was shredded itself after being sold.

JOHN BALDESSARI

John Baldessari had his youthful works burned, and used some of the ashes to make cookies that he would later exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art in New York

FRANCIS BACON

he was known for his violence, masochism, and torturous creative process. So it’s no surprise that he routinely destroyed works that didn’t please him. It is thought that roughly one hundred canvases were destroyed.

ALBERTO BURRI

Burri, affected by his experience in the concentration camps (1943) in Texas, he began to change the process and the meaning of his works, he worked with unusual materials by destroying them in various ways. He created these works to let off steam.

CLAUDE MONET

Claude Monet, upset by a series of water lily paintings he was painting for an upcoming exhibition, took a knife to at least fifteen of these works, delaying his Paris exhibition. Monet’s friend and the former French Prime Minister Georges Clémenceau explained in 1927: “Monet would attack his canvases when he was angry. And his anger was born of dissatisfaction with his work…”

MICHELANGELO BUONARROTI

In the 16th century, Michelangelo took a hammer to Christ’s left leg and arm in his marble Pietà, severing the limbs dramatically from the rest of the sculpture and leaving the artwork tattered in pieces.

AGNES MARTIN

This artist destroyed her own paintings due to mental health issues and her rapidly worsening schizophrenia.

MORALITY OR EGOISM?

“Girl With Balloon” is a famous artwork that was voted in 2017 as the nation’s favourite artwork. It was made by Banksy, a anonymous street artist from Bristol. It depicts a young girl who releases her red balloon.

This painting was in an auction in 2018, and it self-destructed. It shredded itself after being sold.

This was because the artist put it in a big Victorian frame that had a secret opening. The canvas passed through it and as it came out of the bottom of the frame it was in shreds. Only the solitary red balloon on the white background remained intact. This painting was retitled “Love Is In The Bin" and will be auctioned at Sotheby’s in October 2025.

The foremost question is, can he do it? Can he damage his own work? Legally speaking yes. Even if it had already been sold. Infact,it was originally bought for $1.4 m. and after the shredding it was re-sold for $25.4 m.

There are many opinions on why this Banksy did this.

Could it be that it was a protest against the selling of art gone wrong?

Could it be that Banksy did it for fame?

Or could it be to gain more money?

There are many opinions on why this took place.

Protest

As we all know this artist is known for not sharing his identity and protesting against social norms.

This could easily be a way to prevent the sale of the canvas and making people realize that art should be accesible to everybody.

But people saw it as a performance and paid more money for the "damaged" painting.

There are other examples of this: the fresh banana, attached to a wall with duct tape, sold for $6.2 m.

Fame

Some say that this was a method to gain approval.

Supporting this theory is the fact that this is Banksy’s most renowned piece of art.

But this is contoversial, if Banksy wanted notoriety we would know his identity by now.

Money

We know that this piece of art gained value due to this act. Could it be that Banksy did it for money? Well, he couldn’t have known that this act would have enhanced the value of the painting.

Futhermore, this Bristolian artist usually displays his creations on walls, garage doors, so that his art cannot be bought.

In short, it is most probable that Banksy made his canvas shred becuase he was against the idea of his art being sold.

ART ATTACK

Today we are going to talk about the several reasons that motivate artists to damage their own works. Why they BASH it, CRASH it, BURN it! Do you think you would act in the same way if it was something that you have worked so hard on?

Artists do this act of madness due to disillusion, disappointment, anxiety, depression and mental illness... Everyone has heard of Claude Monet, but not everybody knows that he destroyed his works, in fact his friend Georges Clemenceau in 1927 explained in : “Monet would attack his canvases when he was angry. And his anger was born of a dissatisfaction with his work...”. Try to image Monet, one of the greatest artist of all time throwing his canvas against a wall.

However the motivation is not always this, let’s think about Alberto Burri. He was a very controversial artist (1940-70) that distinguished himself by his eccentric way of working. In fact he usually burnt, crashed and bashed his canvases because he wanted to made them unique.

Another thing that we need to understand about this wonderful artist is that he was a prisoner of war during the WW2 and due to the traumas he suffered he reinvented his style.

Today, the choice to damage one's own creations takes on different nuances: it is a critique of cultural consumerism, a way of reasserting control over the work or an existential cry against art as a product.

One of the most sensational examples was Banksy, who in 2018 partially self-destructed his work Girl with Balloon immediately after it was sold at an auction at Sotheby's.

Between provocation and reflection, artists who damage their own works force us to reconsider our relationship with art. At a time when everything seems to have a price, perhaps the most radical gesture is to take away material value in order to restore meaning.

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