A painting of a Nazi officer created by the anonymous British street artist Banksy is going to raise a lot of money for Housing Works, a charity that works with the homeless and “people living with and affected by HIV/AIDS.”
The painting was the latest work, unveiled Tuesday, by Banksy as part of his monthlong residency in New York City.
Banksy created the painting, which was dubbed “The banality of the banality of evil,” by purchasing a landscape originally created by another artist from a Housing Works thrift shop for about $50, according to the news site Gothamist. That painting was returned to the store after Banksy added a figure wearing a Nazi officer’s uniform to the foreground of the landscape.
Housing Works is now auctioning the remixed painting online with a starting price of $74,000. The latest bid on Tuesday evening had climbed above $85,000. In the past, Banksy’s works have fetched more than $1 million at auction.
