Banksy’s Nola Tops £2.2M in Five Years
Nola Yellow Rain © Banksy 2008
Banksy
270 works
Banksy’s Nola print, also known as Umbrella Girl, is one of the artist’s most recognisable and valuable editioned works. First painted in New Orleans’ Marigny neighbourhood in response to Hurricane Katrina, the image was released as a signed print edition in 2008 and has since become one of the most desirable Banksy prints when it appears at auction.
The series was produced in several colour variants that structure its market. The original White Rain edition (289 prints) was followed by smaller editions including Grey Rain (63 prints), Orange Rain (32 prints), and Yellow Rain (31 prints), alongside 66 artist proofs in multicolour variants.
Banksy Nola Print Market: Key Insights
- The series structurally repriced after 2020 – Average values stabilised at more than double the pre-2020 baseline following the peak Banksy market cycle.
- Supply remains tightly constrained – Most years see only two to five works appear at auction, even during periods of strong demand.
- Edition size defines the pricing hierarchy – Smaller numbered editions consistently achieve the highest values, while White Rain provides the majority of trading activity and price comparables.
How Much Is Banksy’s Nola Print Worth?
Between 2019 and 2025, Banksy’s Nola generated £2.7 million across 26 auction sales, with 73% of those results exceeding £90,000.
Before the pandemic-era art market boom, Nola prints typically traded around £46,000 on average between 2017 and 2019. During the peak cycle in 2021, average prices rose dramatically, reaching approximately £162,000 as the wider Banksy market experienced a surge in demand.
While many segments of the Banksy print market returned to pre-boom levels after 2022, Nola did not fully retrace its gains. Instead, the series stabilised to an average of £103,000 between 2022 and 2023, establishing a new and significantly higher price floor.
In other words, the market did not collapse after the peak cycle. It repriced upward, with average values remaining more than double the levels seen before 2020.
Recent sales continue to reinforce this resilience. In 2025, Nola (Yellow Rain) achieved £81,900 at Christie’s London, demonstrating collector demand for rare prints in small edition sizes for this collection.
How Rare Is Banksy's Nola Print?
Nola trades very rarely on the public market, with most years seeing between two and five works sold publicly.
Even during the peak of the Banksy market in 2021, the number of works entering the market remained relatively limited. That year, only seven examples appeared at auction, despite exceptionally strong demand across Banksy’s print market.
Artist Proofs appear even less frequently, often one or none in a given year, while other proof variants rarely surface publicly at all.
This pattern highlights an important structural feature of the series: strong demand has never triggered a large expansion in supply. Works in the Nola series tend to surface selectively rather than regularly, which has helped maintain price stability over time.
Banksy Nola Print Editions: How Edition Size Affects Value
The Nola market is primarily structured by edition size.
The White Rain edition (289) appears most frequently at auction and forms the core liquidity of the series. Since 2019 it has appeared ten times publicly, generating £672,200 in cumulative hammer value and establishing the baseline price level for the market.
The smallest editions, however, achieve the strongest results. Variants such as Yellow Rain (31) and Orange Rain (32) appear less frequently but consistently record the highest average values.
This pattern reflects a clear hierarchy within the series where smaller numbered editions command the highest prices, while White Rain provides the majority of market liquidity and price comparables.
Artist Proofs represent the rarest segment of the Nola market, though their pricing behaviour differs from the smallest numbered editions. Several Artist Proof variants remain exceptionally scarce. Pink/Yellow Rain last appeared publicly in 2017, while Green/Burgundy Rain has never appeared at auction.
Top Banksy Nola Auction Results
The highest auction results for Nola have been dominated by the smallest edition variants:
- Nola (Yellow Rain) – £365,000, Christie’s London, April 2021
- Nola (Orange Rain) – £228,000, Tate Ward, December 2021
- Nola (Yellow Rain) – £226,800, Sotheby’s London, September 2020
- Nola (Green/Blue Rain) – £218,750, Christie’s London, July 2021
- Nola (Yellow Rain) – £216,000, Tate Ward, December 2021
Should You Buy or Sell a Banksy Nola Print?
For sellers, Nola represents a market shaped by both reliable liquidity and scarcity premiums. Larger editions provide regular trading activity and established price comparables, while smaller colour variants tend to achieve the strongest individual results when they appear.
For buyers, the series offers multiple entry points across different price tiers. Larger editions allow collectors to acquire one of Banksy’s most recognisable images at comparatively accessible levels, while smaller editions offer stronger scarcity dynamics and long-term appreciation potential.
Private sales also play an important role in the series. Because works appear intermittently at auction, private transactions allow collectors to target specific colour variants without depending on auction cycles.
Data and Methodology
This report draws on MyArtBroker’s proprietary print market database, which tracks more than 400 auction houses worldwide.
All prices are reported in GBP (unless otherwise stated), inclusive of buyer’s fees. Performance figures are based on hammer prices, which underpin the accompanying graphs.