The $1 Million Banana: Art or Just a Snack?

Sotheby’s announced that “Comedian,” the installation artwork by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan famously dubbed the $100,000 banana, will be up for auction.

According to CNN, Comedian will seek a new owner at an auction on November 20 at Sotheby’s headquarters in New York. The estimated selling price is expected to range from around $1 million to $1.5 million.

First unveiled by Cattelan at an art fair in Miami in 2019, Comedian consists of a single banana duct-taped to a wall.

The artwork was created in three editions. Two were sold to private collectors for $120,000 each, generating considerable buzz. The sale price of the third edition remains undisclosed but is believed to have fetched an even higher amount.

The piece being auctioned this time is one of the three editions, although the seller’s identity has not been disclosed.

The buyer will receive a banana, a certificate of authenticity, a roll of duct tape, and an official installation guide. However, the tape and banana received will differ from those originally displayed. A Sotheby’s spokesperson clarified in an email to CNN, “Comedian is a conceptual artwork, and the actual physical materials are replaced for each exhibition.” 

Cattelan’s work has sparked significant debate regarding its value as an artwork. Some critics argue that it follows the tradition of conceptual art, tracing its lineage back to Marcel Duchamp’s Fountain, which famously featured a urinal displayed in an art gallery.

The use of a common banana as material has led to instances of visitors consuming the artwork. In 2019, at the Miami art fair, an American performance artist removed and ate the banana in front of hundreds of spectators. The performance artist contended that his action was a distinct artistic performance rather than vandalism.

In 2023, Maurizio Cattelan’s solo exhibition at the Leeum Museum in Seoul also featured Comedian, where a university student famously ate the banana taped to the wall, generating significant domestic and international buzz. Following this incident, the museum replaced the banana with a new one for the exhibition.