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Agence France-Presse

A museum in eastern France on Sunday reported to police the theft of a banana that forms a core part of a multimillion-dollar artwork by Italian visual artist Maurizio Cattelan.
The missing fruit – which was taped to a wall to form the provocative work by Cattelan called Comedian – was noticed by a guard on Saturday to have gone missing.
An iteration of the artwork was bought by Chinese-born cryptocurrency founder Justin Sun in 2024. He forked out US$6.2 million for the work, then days later ate a banana in front of cameras in Hong Kong.
The Pompidou-Metz museum in Lorraine, which is a branch of the famous Pompidou Centre in Paris, said in a statement it had lodged a criminal complaint for theft against persons unknown.
It also said it had replaced the banana.
The artwork’s perishable banana centrepiece is replaced every three days to keep it contemporary.

In July last year, a visitor to the museum ate the fruit. But guards quickly intervened and stuck up a replacement banana.
Cattelan said at the time he was disappointed the hungry visitor had consumed only the banana and not the tape as well. The museum did not take legal action in that instance.
This time, though, it decided to make its criminal complaint because the perpetrator was unidentified, and therefore “there is no possibility of dialogue”.
It also said that “this is the second time this has happened” and it felt it was an issue of respect for the artwork.
Cattelan’s edible creation, which aims to question the notion of art and its value, has sparked controversy ever since it made its debut at the 2019 Art Basel show in Miami Beach with an asking price of US$120,000.
A performance artist, David Datuna, ate Comedian at that 2019 show, saying he felt “hungry”.
As well as Comedian, Cattelan is also known for producing an 18-carat, fully functioning gold toilet called America that was offered to US President Donald Trump during his first term in the White House.
A British court in March found two men guilty of stealing the toilet during an exhibition in 2020 in the United Kingdom, from an 18th century stately home that was the birthplace of wartime prime minister Winston Churchill.
It was split up into parts and none of the gold was ever recovered.


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A visitor looks at the “Comedian” artwork by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan at the Centre Pompidou-Metz in Metz in May last year. On Sunday, 2025. (Photo by Jean-Christophe VERHAEGEN / AFP) / RESTRICTED TO EDITORIAL USE - MANDATORY MENTION OF THE ARTIST UPON PUBLICATION - TO ILLUSTRATE THE EVENT AS SPECIFIED IN THE CAPTION

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Pompidou-Metz museum contacts police after a guard notices Maurizio Cattelan’s iconic duct-taped centrepiece has vanished


Pompidou-Metz museum contacts police after a guard notices Maurizio Cattelan’s iconic duct-taped centrepiece has vanished.


French museum reports theft of banana from multimillion-dollar artwork

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Pompidou-Metz museum contacts police after a guard notices Maurizio Cattelan’s iconic duct-taped centrepiece has vanished

Pompidou-Metz museum contacts police after a guard notices Maurizio Cattelan’s iconic duct-taped centrepiece has vanished