MONTREAL -- The Montreal street artist MissMe has sold one of her works, a self-portrait from her series "Portrait of a Vandal," to Madonna.
The singer briefly posted on her Instagram story this week a photo of the six-foot high canvas, which depicts the artist in her trademark Mickey Mouse-eared balaclava, lifting her shirt to expose her naked body.
MissMe, who wears a mask to maintain anonymity, is described on her website as "an activist, feminist, and one of the most recognized outlaw artists in North America."
Her work, which has appeared on buildings around the world, explores "her own struggles with race, gender, society, and class while uplifting icons of the past," the site says.
Madonna first noticed MissMe's art on the streets of Lisbon in 2017. When she shared a photo of the Lisbon piece on social media, it began a relationship with the artist.
MissMe, who is originally from Switzerland but has lived in Montreal for 18 years, heard that she and Madonna were going to be in Morocco at the same time for photo shoots last summer and that the singer wanted to meet her.
"She came to me -- I was wearing my mask obviously -- and she was like, 'I'm a great fan, but you know this already,' " the artist said in an interview. "I was like, 'Wow!"'
Madonna asked about making a purchase. "As soon as I had one, I sent it to her," she said. "She was, like, 'All right, I love it. I want it."'
She described her persona on the canvas sold to Madonna as "an angry woman, in a way, you could say, that is pretty head-on and violent. My series is raw, emotionally and visually."
MissMe travels frequently, finding inspiration in new urban settings. The self-described "artful vandal" rarely stays more than a few months in a row in the same city, but considers Montreal her home.
