How Italian artist’s duct-taped banana sold for $6.2m

An Italian artist, Maurizio Cattelan’s audacious creation of a banana duct-taped to a wall has been sold for a staggering $6.2 million.

The piece, titled Comedian, was auctioned on November 20, 2024, at Sotheby’s in New York and purchased by Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun.

First making waves at Miami’s Art Basel in 2019, Comedian gained fame for its simplicity and provocation.

Speaking to the Italian daily La Repubblica, Cattelan explained, “It’s a provocation that invites us to reflect on the value of art and the dynamics of (this) market, pushing us to question what this work says about us as viewers.”

Originally crafted with a 25-cent banana, the artwork’s value soared from an initial $800,000 to $5.2 million, plus additional buyer’s fees.

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Commenting on the art market’s reaction, Cattelan remarked, “It’s the market that has decided to take a banana stuck on the wall so seriously. If the system is so frail to slip on a banana skin, maybe it was already slippery.”

The 64-year-old artist, renowned for hyper-realistic installations, has previously stunned audiences with creations such as a marble hand with a raised middle finger outside Milan’s Stock Exchange and a sculpture of Pope John Paul II struck by a meteorite.

Reflecting on Comedian’s success, Cattelan called it “a laugh against a tired system, an invitation to rediscover the power of irony and simplicity.”

He added that he was asleep during the auction, dreaming about his football team, Atalanta, beating AC Milan in an upcoming Serie A match.

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