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After the crowd's initial shock, they whipped out their cameras to take pictures of the moment.

Video shot by an attendee showed two Sotheby's workers remove the painting, partially shredded and hanging from the frame, from the wall and whisk it away.

View this post on Instagram

What a great move! Right after the hammer fell, Banksy self destructed/shredded after selling for 860.000£ at the Sotheby‘s evening auction on the 5th of October 2018. . ?????? #banksy #sothebys #auction #art #shredded #destroyed #video #classicbanksy #london #streetartnews #news #legendary

A post shared by I KNOW A GUY (@iknowaguy.gallery) on Oct 5, 2018 at 1:35pm PDT

Banksy took to Instagram Saturday morning with a video appearing to show the shredder being built into the frame.

\"A few years ago I secretly built a shredder into a painting ... in case it was ever put up for auction,\" he posted with the video.

View this post on Instagram

. \"The urge to destroy is also a creative urge\" - Picasso

A post shared by Banksy (@banksy) on Oct 6, 2018 at 10:09am PDT

\"The urge to destroy is also a creative urge - Picasso,\" he wrote with the post.

Banksy first gained prominence for his stencil work on walls in the late 1990s and began holding exhibitions in the early 2000s in the U.K. and the United States.

The documentary \"Exit Through the Gift Shop,\" released in 2010, garnered him further attention worldwide and an Oscar nomination. The film did not win, dashing onlookers' hopes at a reveal of the artist.

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