Wittily painted with the dreary realism of the paintings that hang in Britain’s Houses of Parliament and measuring more than 14 feet wide, the painting was shown at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery in the artist’s hometown to coincide with Britain’s scheduled departure from the European Union on March 29 this year, a date that was postponed until Oct. 31. “Devolved Parliament” will now be displayed in London just four weeks before the revised Brexit deadline.

Demand for Banksy’s paintings and prints has surged since last October when Alex Branczik, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art in Europe, announced “We’ve been Banksy-ed” at a post-sale news conference. The remote-controlled shredding mechanism jammed halfway down the canvas, leaving it dangling beneath its elaborate gold frame: Banksy aficionados quickly claimed this “Girl With Balloon” had added value as a unique piece of performance art . Soon after, Sotheby’s announced that the buyer, described as a “female European collector,” was happy to keep her booby-trapped purchase.

The painting, now retitled “Love Is in the Bin,” has since March been hanging on long-term loan at the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart, Germany. “Presented in the museum context, it has to stand up to key works from the history of art — from Rembrandt to Duchamp and from Holbein to Picasso,” says the Staatsgalerie’s website.

The artistic prank of the century, designed to satirize the excesses of the auction world, has now become a highly valued museum piece.

This time around, it seems that Banksy himself is not behind the sale. Sotheby’s catalog entry for “Devolved Parliament” says the work was “acquired from the artist by the present owner in 2011.” Banksy’s publicist, Joanna Brooks, said in an email, “The painting in question is being sold by the owner who is in no way associated with the artist Banksy.”