Artist Banksy pays superhero tribute to Britain's NHS staff

A young boy chooses a nurse as the superhero he wants to play with over Batman and Spiderman in a new artwork by Banksy that encapsulates the gratitude Britons have felt toward the country's National Health Service during the coronavirus crisis.

The painting by the secretive street artist was unveiled at University Hospital Southampton, in south England, on Wednesday (May 6).

The image shows a boy - drawn in monochrome - kneeling beside a litter bin containing Batman and Spiderman toys. The boy instead plays with a doll dressed in a face mask and nurse's uniform with a red cross - the only color in the painting - on the front.

Pictures of the work were also posted on Banksy's Instagram page with the caption "Game Changer".

The BBC said the artist, believed to be from the western city of Bristol, left the painting with a note for workers at Southampton General Hospital reading: "Thanks for all you're doing. I hope this brightens the place up a bit, even if its only black and white."

Most of his work appears as graffiti and his art has rocketed in value. His painting of chimps sitting in Britain's parliament sold for more than $12 million in October last year, a record price at auction for his art.

The new painting will be on display at the hospital until after the lockdown and it will then be auctioned for NHS charities, according to the BBC.

It is not the first Banksy work inspired by COVID-19. He posted scenes of his trademark stencilled rats running amok in a bathroom last month, accompanied by the comment: "My wife hates it when I work from home."