The world’s most expensive banana fetched $6.2 million after being sold at auction in New York.
Background: The yellow banana attached to the white wall with silver tape is a work titled Comedian by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan.
It debuted in 2019 as a three-fruit edition at the Art Basel Miami Beach fair, where it became a highly controversial sensation.
Was it a prank? A comment on the state of the art of the world? Another artist took the banana from the wall and ate it. An emergency banana was brought.
The selfie-seeking crowd grew so large that Comedian was removed from view, but three editions of the work sold for between US$120,000 ($184,125) and US$150,000 ($230,156), according to the Galerie Perrotin, which managed its sales at the time.
Today, Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun purchased Cattelan’s viral artwork for $US5.2 million ($7.98 million) at an auction at Sotheby’s New York, according to The Guardian. With the buyer’s premium included, Sun will pay a total of $6.2 million ($9.57 million).
Key quote: “What you are purchasing when you purchase Cattelan’s Comedian is not the banana itself, but a certificate of authenticity that grants the owner permission and authority to reproduce this banana and the tape on their wall as a Original work by Maurizio Cattelan.” — David Galperin, head of contemporary art at Sotheby’s.
What else to know: Bidders did not purchase the same fruits as those on display in Miami. These bananas are long gone. Sotheby’s said the fruit was still supposed to be replaced regularly, just like the duct tape.
Sotheby’s reportedly acquired the banana on display for 35 cents earlier today, according to The Guardian.
Sun will receive a certificate of authenticity along with instructions for installing the artwork and replacing the banana.
What happens next: Sun told the Guardian he planned to eat the banana to “honor its place in both art history and popular culture.”
