''Painting for Saints'' or ''Game Changer'' is a 2020 painting by Banksy, who donated it to the Southampton General Hospital in

Southern England Southern England, or the South of England, also known as the South, is an area of England consisting of its southernmost part, with cultural, economic and political differences from the Midlands and the North. Officially, the area includes G ...

, United Kingdom. The artwork depicts a child playing with a toy nurse, having selected the toy over superheroes

Batman Batman is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. The character was created by artist Bob Kane and writer Bill Finger, and debuted in Detective Comics 27, the 27th issue of the comic book ''Detective Comics'' on ...

and

Spider-Man Spider-Man is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer-editor Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, he first appeared in the anthology comic book '' Amazing Fantasy'' #15 (August 1962) in the ...

, and was unveiled during the

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. The painting is largely monochrome apart from a red cross on the nurse's uniform. It was delivered to the hospital together with a note: "Thanks for all you're doing. I hope this brightens the place up a bit, even if its only black and white". The hospital titled the artwork ''Painting for Saints'', which references "The Saints", a nickname for

Southampton F.C. Southampton Football Club () is an English professional football club based in Southampton, Hampshire, which competes in the . Their home ground since 2001 has been St Mary's Stadium, before which they were based at The Dell. The club play in ...

Banksy himself posted the image on his

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account with the caption "Game Changer". The artwork remained at the hospital until it was auctioned off to benefit charities affiliated with the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. It was sold for £14.4m (£16.8m including buyer premium) on 23 March 2021, which at the time was a record for a work by Banksy.

References

2020 paintings Batman in other media Cultural depictions of nurses Paintings in the United Kingdom Paintings of people Superman in other media Works about the COVID-19 pandemic Works by Banksy Media depictions of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Kingdom {{COVID-19-stub

See also

References