When destroying a painting becomes an art act... 6 artists, including Banksy, burned and tore their works with their own hands

Why would an artist spend years creating a work, only to decide in a moment to burn it, tear it, or let it destroy itself in front of an audience?

This question was posed by the French newspaper Le Monde through six case studies spanning from the 16th century to Banksy, revealing that the destruction of a work was not always an expression of regret, but could become an integral part of the art itself.

According to the newspaper, the Swiss artist Jean Tinguely created a large machine made of wheels, motors, a piano, and discarded parts at the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 1960. He designed it from the outset to self-destruct in front of approximately 250 people. Museum records confirm that the work was titled “Homage to New York” and was never intended to endure.

The American artist John Baldessari went further in 1970, when he burned a large collection of his previous paintings in an incinerator, considering the disposal of his artistic past as the beginning of a new phase.

In 1968, the French artist Tania Mouraud burned most of her previous output because she felt that painting had become a habit for her and was no longer a genuine artistic exploration. Similarly, Gustav Metzger made the idea of “self-destructing art” the central focus of an entire artistic and political project.

Le Monde adds that one of the most famous modern examples occurred in 2018, when Banksy’s painting “Girl with Balloon” began to shred through a paper-cutting mechanism hidden inside the frame at the moment it was sold at a Sotheby’s auction, as a protest against the auction system. Ironically, the shredded version, renamed “Love is in the Bin,” sold three years later for approximately £18.6 million.

In these cases, the destruction of the artwork was not its end; rather, it was sometimes the moment that made it famous.