A security guard discovered that the banana in the artwork titled "Comedian" had been removed from the wall on May 30th. The artwork was extremely simple: a ripe banana taped to the wall with a strip of gray tape.
Representatives from the Pompidou-Metz museum (a branch of the famous Pompidou Center in Paris) said they have filed a criminal complaint for theft against an unidentified perpetrator and quickly replaced the banana with a new one.
This isn't the first time this artwork has been physically disturbed. Because bananas are biodegradable organic materials, the museum has a procedure of replacing them every three days to ensure the artwork remains relevant.
Previously, in July 2025, a visitor casually peeled and ate a banana right in the exhibition room. Security personnel only intervened to re-attach the tape without taking any legal action. Artist Cattelan even jokingly expressed disappointment that the visitor only ate the banana and left the tape behind.
However, in this instance, the museum decided to report the incident to the police because the perpetrator was completely anonymous, leaving no opportunity for dialogue between the two parties. A museum representative emphasized that this was the second similar incident and that it concerned a matter of showing minimal respect for a work of art on public display.
Since its debut at the Art Basel Miami Beach exhibition in 2019 with an initial asking price of $120,000, this edible artwork has continuously sparked heated debates about the definition and true value of contemporary art. At the 2019 exhibition, performance artist David Datuna even took down a banana and ate it, explaining that he "felt hungry."
Despite public skepticism, the artwork's value has steadily increased over the years. In 2024, Justin Sun, the founder of a Chinese-based cryptocurrency platform, spent $5.2 million to acquire a copy of the artwork, and a few days later, he ate a banana in front of the media in Hong Kong to make a statement.
Besides "Comedian," artist Maurizio Cattelan is also famous for his work "America"—an 18-carat gold toilet that functions normally, which was once proposed as a gift for Donald Trump during his first presidential term.
Last March, a British court sentenced two men for stealing this golden toilet in 2020 while it was on display at an ancient palace – the birthplace of former Prime Minister Winston Churchill. The toilet was subsequently smashed into pieces, and all the gold has yet to be recovered.
Source: https://baophapluat.vn/mat-trom-tac-pham-qua-chuoi-trieu-do.html
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