The 101cm-by-78 cm canvas of the famous artwork ‘Girl with a Balloon' was destroyed by a mechanism operating from within the base of the frame, which shredded the artwork into ribbons, shortly after it made £860,000 ($1.37mn with buyer's premium) at a Contemporary Art Evening Auction at Sotheby's London on Friday.
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The act left the auction's attendees confused. However, some reportedly spotted a strange man wearing black sunglasses, which caused the public speculate that the stunt might have been conducted by Banksy.
"We've just been Banksy'd," The Art Newspaper cited Alex Branczik, senior director at Sotheby's. "He is arguably the greatest British street artist, and tonight we saw a little piece of Banksy genius."
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Following the reports from the auction, the official Instagram page of the famous, but anonymous artist published a post with a caption reading "Going, going, gone…"