Name: I Fought The Law
Brand: Banksy
Rating: 5 (236 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of Banksy's I Fought The Law (unsigned), a screenprint from 2004, is estimated to be worth between £11,000 and £16,000. This work has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 4%. Over the past 12 months, the average selling price was £9,874, across a total of 8 sales. In the last five years, the hammer price has ranged from £8,200 in December 2024 to £37,000 in December 2020. Since its first sale in September 2011, this artwork has been sold 86 times. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 500.

Meaning & Analysis

In 2004, Banksy created I Fought The Law, a screen print from an unsigned edition of 500. Based on footage of the failed attempt on Reagan's life, Banksy’s print replaces the assassin’s gun with a paintbrush, which he has used in graffitiing an altered song title by The Clash.

I Fought The Law shows a photo-realistic black and white stencil figure of a man being pinned down by three other men, while a man in the foreground drinks what appears to be a bottle of beer. The man being pinned down by the group has just dropped a paintbrush covered in orange paint, with which he has graffitied ‘I Fought The Law And I Won’, on the wall behind them. The writing on the wall is a play on the infamous Clash song, ‘I Fought The Law and The Law Won.’

By subverting this phrase, Banksy makes a statement on how those who rise above the law and fight protocol are invariably knocked down by the jeering masses. Alternatively, it could be seen that, despite getting caught, the graffiti artist had already won – by writing on the wall, he had succeeded in getting his message out there despite what happened next. The positioning of the men in the image is a reversal of photographs capturing the assassination attempt of Ronald Reagan.