YouGov reveals all-male list of UK’s favourite ever artists, with Banksy at the top

Banksy has been named the UK’s favourite artist of all time, fighting off competition from the likes of Claude Monet and Henry Moore to take the top spot in a survey published today.

Conducted by YouGov on behalf of Homes & Antiques magazine, the survey saw over 2000 British adults being asked to name their favourite artist of all time.

The anonymous street artist’s political proclamations evidently chime with the Great British Public, and Homes & Antiques editor Mel Sherwood thinks that the self-shredding spray painter’s alleged approachability might explain why he romped to victory in the poll.

“This enigmatic character has done so much to make art accessible – he takes it out of the gallery walls and onto the streets, literally. And with his dark sense of humour and secretive approach, he truly has captured the hearts, minds and gaze of the nation.”

Commissioned ahead of the magazine’s annual art issue, the survey makes for interesting, if eclectic, reading. Despite finding room for everyone from Andy Warhol to Jack Vettriano via Caravaggio and Salvador Dali, not a single woman makes the list. Also, only a handful of living artists make the cut, including David Hockney, Jack Vettriano and Anthony Gormley, with Banksy being the only living artist in the top ten.

Despite this, Sherwood goes on to say that with its mix of surrealists, romantics, and old masters, it “reveals how diverse the nation’s cultural interests are.”

The top 10, in reverse order, is as follows: Michelangelo, L.S. Lowry, Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, J.M.W. Turner, Leonardo Da Vinci, John Constable, Vincent Van Gogh, Claude Monet, and Banksy.

This isn’t the first time that Banksy’s been honoured in such a manner. Back in 2017 his Girl with Balloon piece was picked over Constable’s The Hay Wain to be crowned the UK’s favourite art work.