A stencilled child in a life jacket, feet in the canal, holding up a flare that trails pink smoke across the wall — Banksy’s sole authenticated work in Venice, painted overnight during the 2019 Art Biennale, nearly lost to the water it stands in, and rescued through a restoration whose ending is still being written.
At a glance
The Migrant Child appeared without warning on the night of 8–9 May 2019, on the canal-facing wall of Palazzo San Pantalon on the Rio di San Pantalon in Dorsoduro, timed to the opening of that year’s Venice Art Biennale. Banksy claimed the work himself, on Instagram, showing a small boat lit by flares passing beneath a luxury yacht — a comment on Europe’s response to migrants crossing the Mediterranean. The mural itself shows a child in a life jacket, legs in the water, one arm raised holding a road flare from which pink smoke drifts up the wall.
Key facts
- Artist: Banksy (unconfirmed identity; authenticated by the artist’s own Instagram post)
- Appeared: overnight, 8–9 May 2019, during the Venice Art Biennale
- Original location: canal wall of Palazzo San Pantalon, Rio di San Pantalon, Dorsoduro
- Subject: a child in a life jacket, standing in the canal water, holding a smoking pink flare
- Removed for restoration: overnight, 23–24 July 2025, after years of water and salt damage
- Restoration led by: Banca Ifis (owner of Palazzo San Pantalon since 2024) with conservator Federico Borgogni, following a joint appeal by Italy’s Ministry of Culture, the City of Venice and the Veneto Region
- Shown restored: at the Arsenale (Tesa 113), as part of Banca Ifis’s “Curated by Heart” show for the 61st Venice Art Biennale (2026); then carried by boat through Venice’s canals on 8–9 May 2026
- Future: due to return permanently to the facade of Palazzo San Pantalon once the building’s restoration — overseen by Zaha Hadid Architects — is complete, expected 2027
From an overnight appearance to a rescue
Banksy’s work turned up in Venice at the precise moment the international art world was gathered for the Biennale’s opening, on the wall of what was then an abandoned palazzo on a quiet Dorsoduro canal. The artist confirmed authorship the same way he usually does: not with a signature, but with a post on his own Instagram account, pairing an image of the Venice piece with a small dinghy passing under the hull of a much larger vessel — his own gloss on the subject. The mural quickly became one of the most photographed spots in Dorsoduro, an unofficial stop for visitors who would never queue for the Biennale’s own pavilions.
Street level and canal water are not kind to spray paint. By 2023 the lower part of the mural, closest to the waterline, was visibly deteriorating from damp and salt, and the artwork’s condition became a matter of public concern serious enough that Italy’s Ministry of Culture, the City of Venice and the Region of Veneto issued a joint appeal for help preserving it. Banca Ifis, which had acquired Palazzo San Pantalon in 2024 as part of a plan (developed with the practice of the late Zaha Hadid) to turn the building into a new cultural venue, took on the restoration. Overnight between 23 and 24 July 2025, conservator Federico Borgogni’s team removed the section of wall carrying the mural for treatment off-site — a decision that drew some criticism from artists and activists uneasy about extracting street art from the street.
The restored piece reappeared to the public as part of the 61st Venice Art Biennale in 2026, shown at the Arsenale’s Tesa 113 in an exhibition Banca Ifis called “Curated by Heart.” On 8 and 9 May 2026 it travelled by boat through Venice’s canals so residents could see it again before its final return — still awaited — to the facade of Palazzo San Pantalon, once the palazzo’s own restoration under Zaha Hadid Architects is finished, expected in 2027. Where exactly the piece has been shown in the meantime has not always been announced in advance.
What you see
A child, rendered in Banksy’s usual flat black stencil, stands with legs submerged at the base of a canal wall, a life jacket bulking out its shoulders. One arm reaches up, holding a flare of the kind used to signal ships at sea; from it, a plume of vivid pink smoke rolls up and across the stone. Seen at night with the flare and its smoke lit, the pink glow reads first, before the eye settles on the small dark figure holding it — which is very much the point.
Do you know more?
Where exactly the Migrant Child is on public display right now, between its 2026 canal tour and its planned 2027 return to Palazzo San Pantalon, has not been consistently reported. If you know where it currently stands, write to Sofia, who looks after these pages.
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Getting there
The original site is the canal wall of Palazzo San Pantalon, on the Rio di San Pantalon in Dorsoduro, a short walk from Campo San Pantalon and Campo Santa Margherita — though the work itself is currently off that wall, awaiting the palazzo’s restoration.
Sources
- Artnet News, ARTnews and Euronews, on the mural’s removal for restoration in July 2025 and the parties involved.
- ANSA and Adnkronos, on the restored work becoming visible again in 2026.
- VeneziaToday, on the Arsenale showing at the 61st Biennale and the boat journey through the canals on 8–9 May 2026, and the planned return to Palazzo San Pantalon in 2027.
- Luigi De Marchi, who photographed the work on display.
Find it on the map
See this place and what’s around it →Record researched and written by Luigi De Marchi for Cultural Heritage Online, 2026.
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