In a turn of events that blends the lines between high art and high comedy, the Pompidou-Metz museum in eastern France has reported the theft of a banana that served as the centerpiece of a multimillion-dollar artwork. The piece, titled Comedian by renowned Italian visual artist Maurizio Cattelan, consists of a single banana duct-taped to a wall.
The disappearance was noticed by a museum guard on Saturday, and by Sunday, the institution had filed a criminal complaint for theft against unidentified individuals. While the museum has already replaced the perishable fruit, the act of theft has reignited a global conversation about the nature of conceptual art and the value placed upon it.
For those unfamiliar with the work, Comedian is designed to be provocative. Because the fruit is organic, the museum replaces the banana every three days to maintain its contemporary appearance. This cycle of replacement has made the piece a target for various interventions over the years.
This is not the first time the artwork has encountered "hungry" visitors. In July 2025, a museum visitor consumed the fruit before guards could intervene. At the time, Cattelan expressed a lighthearted disappointment that the visitor had only eaten the banana and not the tape as well. However, the museum has taken a firmer stance this time, filing a formal complaint due to the unidentified nature of the perpetrator and a perceived lack of respect for the artwork.
The history of Comedian is as eccentric as the piece itself. Since its debut at the 2019 Art Basel show in Miami Beach with an asking price of $120,000, it has consistently sparked controversy. During that initial show, performance artist David Datuna ate the banana, claiming he was hungry.
Despite—or perhaps because of—this volatility, the work's market value has soared. In 2024, Chinese-born crypto founder Justin Sun purchased an iteration of the work for a staggering $5.2 million, subsequently eating the fruit in front of cameras in Hong Kong shortly after the purchase.
Cattelan is no stranger to creating stir with his installations. He is also well-known for America, a fully functioning toilet made of 18-carat gold. That piece also fell victim to crime; in 2020, it was stolen from a stately home in the United Kingdom, the birthplace of former British prime minister Winston Churchill. A UK court found two men guilty of the theft in March, though the gold was never recovered.
As the Pompidou-Metz museum seeks the culprit behind the latest banana heist, the art world continues to debate whether Comedian is a brilliant critique of the commercialization of art or simply an elaborate joke that the world is all too willing to pay millions for.
Reference(s):
Just too a-peeling? Controversial banana art stolen from French museum
cgtn.com
