Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan’s famous work “The Comedian” was once again “unlucky enough to be eaten.” This “expensive banana” attached with tape on the wall was taken and eaten by a tourist at the Pompidou-Metz art center in France on July 12.
According to a statement released by the art center on Monday, staff members “quickly and calmly” processed the incident following internal procedures. – A new banana was quickly replaced shortly after. The art center stated that there were no plans for an alarm or any intention of pursuing legal action. After all, such incidents have become commonplace for them.
The art center pointed out that although the piece is valued at several million dollars, the banana is merely an “exchangeable decaying element” within the artwork, and the artist has authorized regular replacements. However, Cattelan expressed disappointment over the incident, believing that the tourist had “just eaten the banana,” not swallowing it along with the tape and skin, lacking the integrity of “performance art.”
In fact, this was not the first time “The Comedian” had been “eaten.” As early as 2019, when it debuted at the Miami Art Basel in the United States, it was publicly peeled and eaten by performance artist David Daughtan. He claimed he felt hungry during the exhibition. This improvisational act quickly became a hot topic in the art world that year, and the piece sold successfully for $120,000 during the exhibition.
In 2023, a similar scene unfolded at the Samsung Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea—a university student ate the banana on the wall.
In November 2024, the piece was purchased by Sun Yuchen, founder of the cryptocurrency community “Binance,” for $6.2 million. After the auction, he also paid tribute to tradition by eating the banana himself. In response, the art center humorously commented: “Looking at it now, this might be the most eaten artwork in the past 30 years.”
Cattelan’s “absurd” art pieces extend beyond just this banana. Another masterpiece is a toilet made from 18 carats gold that can be used normally. It was stolen during its exhibition at the British stately home of Blenheim Palace (the birthplace of Winston Churchill) in 2019.
The thieves dismantled and sold the stolen gold. To date, none of the stolen gold has been recovered. In March this year, a British court found two men guilty of theft.
From bananas to toilets, from eating to stealing, Cattelan’s works seem to always end in a “ridiculous” conclusion, perhaps this is part of his art.
Red Star News, Wang Yalin, Intern Yang Shiruo