Banksy | Monkey Parliament

Banksy (b. c.1974)
Monkey Parliament, 2009
Offset lithograph on smooth wove paper | 53 × 84 cm

In the summer of 2009, Banksy installed an unofficial exhibition inside the Bristol Museum — 100 works placed among the permanent collection overnight without public announcement. The show attracted over 300,000 visitors in twelve weeks and became the defining cultural moment of that year. Monkey Parliament was its centrepiece: a painting of the House of Commons with chimpanzees replacing politicians, arranged in the familiar adversarial formation of British parliamentary debate.

The image is Banksy at his most formally accomplished — a richly painted interior, the architectural grandeur of the chamber rendered in convincing detail, the substitution of monkeys for Members of Parliament requiring no caption and admitting no ambiguity. A decade later, the original painting was reworked and retitled Devolved Parliament to mark Brexit, and sold at Sotheby's for approximately £9.9 million — confirming the image's status as one of the defining political artworks of the early twenty-first century.

This official lithograph was produced for and sold through the Bristol Museum during the exhibition. Unsigned and unnumbered as were all impressions from the edition — this is standard for this work, and Pest Control does not issue COAs for it. Provenance from the original museum sale is the authentication.

Available through Creed Gallery, Ascot, for collectors across Berkshire, Surrey, and London.

Offset lithograph on smooth wove paper
53 × 84 cm
Produced for Banksy vs. Bristol Museum, 2009
Unsigned and unnumbered as issued
Certificate of Authenticity