Maurizio Cattelan’s Perishable Sculpture Drove Some Critics Bananas. Now, It Could Sell for $1.5 Million

For the first time, Maurizio Cattelan’s famous artwork of a banana duct-taped to a wall is heading to the auction block, where experts at Sotheby’s say it could fetch up to $1.5 million.

While it may seem easy to recreate the artwork, titled Comedian, at home using your own duct tape and a run-of-the-mill banana, the winner of the auction will receive a certificate of authenticity and official instructions for installation. They will also get a brand new roll of duct tape and a fresh banana—thankfully, the original fruit is long gone.

“If at its core, Comedian questions the very notion of the value of art, then putting the work at auction this November will be the ultimate realization of its essential conceptual idea,” says David Galperin, Sotheby’s head of contemporary art for the Americas, in a statement. “The public will finally have a say in deciding its true value.”

Five years ago, Cattelan debuted three editions of Comedian at Art Basel Miami Beach. Two of the versions sold for $120,000, while the third went for $150,000. Sotheby’s did not specify which edition will be up for sale.

The duct-taped banana is often compared to artworks like Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain (1917) or Tracey Emin’s My Bed (1998), which pose questions about the meaning of art. In 2021, Cattelan assured the Art Newspaper’s Gareth Harris that the work was “not a joke”; instead, it was “a sincere commentary and a reflection on what we value.”

“At art fairs, speed and business reign,” he added. “So, I saw it like this: If I had to be at a fair, I could sell a banana like others sell their paintings. I could play within the system, but with my rules.”

While Comedian’s debut certainly drew criticism, there is no question that the piece sparked conversation. During the fair, large groups of people quickly formed around the banana, curious to see what the unusual piece was all about. It went viral online and received its fair share of media attention. In fact, the installation got so popular that it was taken down due to safety concerns.

“It’s really one of the most talked about works of the century,” Galperin tells Bloomberg’s James Tarmy. “So, is the value of $1 million to $1.5 million scientific? No. But could it go far beyond that? I believe so.”

Intentionally or not, the piece has also become somewhat interactive. At the Art Basel show, artist David Datuna removed the banana from the wall and ate it, claiming that the act was a performance piece. Last year, Seoul University student Noh Huyn-soo stole the fruit off a gallery wall at the Leeum Museum of Art and took a few bites. Afterward, he duct-taped the peel back to the wall.

Luckily, because the artwork is a perishable sculpture, its integrity was unharmed.

“Comedian is a conceptual artwork, and the actual physical materials are replaced with every installation,” an auction spokesperson tells CNN’s Oscar Holland.

Sotheby’s will sell Comedian in New York on November 20. Ahead of the auction, the bananas and tape will go on a world tour, stopping in cities such as London, Paris, Milan, Hong Kong, Dubai, Taipei, Tokyo and Los Angeles.

Julia Binswanger | READ MORE

Julia Binswanger is a freelance arts and culture reporter based in Chicago. Her work has been featured in WBEZ, Chicago magazine, Rebellious magazine and PC magazine.