Cattelan's $6.2M banana stolen from French museum — again — prompting a police complaint this time
The perishable star of Maurizio Cattelan's 'Comedian' vanished from the Centre Pompidou-Metz on Saturday, the second incident in under a year after a visitor ate the fruit last July.
The disappearing act
A surveillance agent at the Centre Pompidou-Metz in eastern France noticed early Saturday afternoon that the banana forming the centrepiece of Maurizio Cattelan's 'Comedian' was missing. The museum announced on Sunday that it had filed a criminal complaint against unknown persons, a sharp departure from its response last July when a visitor ate the banana and later boasted about it on social media.
The author has not been identified and therefore no dialogue is possible.
The museum's communications chief told AFP that the institution had identified the July culprit, who claimed responsibility online, and chose not to press charges at the time. This second incident, she said, raises a question of "respect for the work."
What 'Comedian' actually is
Created in 2019, 'Comedian' consists of a banana affixed to a wall with a strip of grey duct tape. The work exists in three editions and is designed to interrogate the very notion of art and its value. The banana itself is replaced every three days under a protocol established by the artist; the museum stressed that the work's worth "resides in its certificate of authenticity and in the protocol that governs its presentation, rather than in its perishable element."
The establishment condemns this act, which undermines the respect due to exhibited works.
The fruit was promptly replaced and the installation restored to its original appearance. 'Comedian' is on display as part of the exhibition 'Dimanche sans fin' (Endless Sunday), which opened in May 2025 and runs until 25 January 2027.
A history of being eaten
'Comedian' has been consumed multiple times since its debut at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019. Performance artist David Datuna ate the banana at that first showing, claiming he was hungry, in protest of its then-price of $120,000. In November 2021, crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun bought one edition at auction for $5.2 million — or $6.2 million according to some sources — and ate the banana days later in front of journalists and influencers in Hong Kong.
It's much better than other bananas.
After the July 2025 incident in Metz, Cattelan reacted with characteristic irony, expressing disappointment that the visitor had eaten only the banana and not the duct tape holding it to the wall.
Cattelan's other vanishing act
The Italian artist is also known for 'America', a fully functional 18-carat gold toilet offered to the White House during Donald Trump's first term. That work was stolen during a 2020 exhibition in the United Kingdom; the thieves broke it into pieces and the gold has never been recovered.
- Debuts at Art Basel Miami Beach priced at $120,000; artist David Datuna eats the banana in protest.
- Justin Sun buys an edition at auction for $5.2 million and eats the banana days later in Hong Kong.
- A visitor eats the banana at Centre Pompidou-Metz; museum identifies the person but does not press charges.
- Banana stolen from Centre Pompidou-Metz; museum files criminal complaint against unknown persons.
What happens next
With the perpetrator unidentified, the museum has taken the legal route for the first time. The banana has been replaced and the exhibition continues, but the complaint signals that the institution is no longer willing to treat such incidents as performance-art footnotes. The work remains on view in Metz through January 2027.
