Someone Stole Cattelan's Banana-And Centre Pompidou-Metz Is Not Happy

Centre Pompidou-Metz says Maurizio Cattelan's banana artwork Comedian was stolen from the museum, though the institution insists the loss was largely symbolic. Staff replaced the fruit with a fresh banana and a new strip of tape“as quickly as possible,” the museum said, adding that no irreversible damage was observed.

The explanation goes to the heart of why Comedian has remained such a durable provocation. The work's value, the museum said, lies in its certificate of authenticity and in the protocol that governs how it is installed, rather than in the banana itself. A limited edition of the piece sold at auction for $6.24 million in 2024, underscoring how firmly its market value is tied to concept and documentation.

This is far from the first time the work has been consumed, removed, or otherwise treated as edible. When Comedian debuted at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019, a fairgoer ate the banana. In 2024, Chinese crypto-billionaire Justin Sun purchased the work at Sotheby's New York and ate it on camera, saying the act could become part of the artwork's history. A visitor at Centre Pompidou-Metz did the same last year, and a museum-goer in Korea ate the banana in 2023.

The museum did not treat the latest incident lightly. It filed a legal complaint against“persons unknown,” saying the act undermines respect for the works on display and temporarily deprives visitors of part of the exhibition experience. According to AFP and Le Monde, the museum later said it was pursuing legal action because this was the second such incident and the thief remains unidentified, leaving“no possibility of dialogue.”

Comedian is the centerpiece of Endless Sunday: A Living Exhibition in Perpetual Motion, on view until January 25, 2027. Curated by Cattelan, the exhibition presents itself as a mutable project, one that“challenges the conventions of a traditional show” and unfolds as a“living, ever-changing” environment. In that sense, the banana's latest disappearance may have become part of the work's logic - even if the museum would clearly prefer a less literal interpretation.

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