A new mural depicting a lighthouse by world-famous street artist Banksy has appeared on a wall in the southern French city of Marseille, on Friday, May 30.
The anonymous artist known as Banksy revealed the new work on Instagram on Thursday but its location had not been disclosed. The words "I want to be what you saw in me" are stenciled in English across the black lighthouse set against a beige stucco wall.
The mural is on a quiet street near the Catalans beach not far from the city center. The lighthouse's painted shadow connects to one of the street bollards lining the sidewalk.
Banksy, whose identity has not been publicly revealed, has crossed the globe for decades painting clandestine murals in public spaces, including in the occupied West Bank, London and Los Angeles.
"It's fascinating that Banksy chose a city like Marseille, which has so much art, foreigners and life," said Esteban Roldan, a 42-year-old carpenter who came to see the artwork. "This is huge, Banksy in Marseille," added another local, Virginie Foucault. She said she was having lunch nearby. "I thought to myself, 'I'm not going to find it in Les Catalans,' and then, by chance – I never go there – there it is. We love it, we love it!"
"It was nice to have a little search to discover where it was. I'm happy I found it," said Susan McAllister, a 60-year-old British teacher. "It's exciting, I'm happy he is exploring different places in different cities to display his art or her art," she said. "It might be a woman."
Banksy is best known for hard-hitting murals, often using a distinctive stenciling style, that frequently pop up on buildings and walls.
In recent years, he has kept the attention of the contemporary art world with his social commentaries and causes – migrants, opposition to Brexit, denunciation of Islamist radicals – while still stirring the excitement of the moneyed art markets. The artist boasts an A-list client lineup and has sold his works for tens of millions of pounds at auction since the early 2000s.