A famous banana-shaped art installation has been stolen from a French museum for the second time — Euronews
Unknown perpetrators have stolen the famous work by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, *The Comic*, from the Centre Pompidou-Metz in France for the second time; the piece consists of an ordinary banana attached to the wall with adhesive tape.
The disappearance of the installation, whose market value is estimated at 5.8 million euros, was noticed by a security guard during a routine patrol on Sunday.
The museum’s administration has already filed an official complaint with law enforcement authorities.
Representatives of the cultural center reported that the fruit on the wall has already been replaced with a new one.
Such rotation is standard procedure for this work of contemporary art, as attendants replace the banana every three days to keep it fresh.
However, this time the museum’s management decided to involve the police due to the inability to resolve the incident on their own.
As explained by the administration, a criminal complaint was filed because the perpetrator could not be identified immediately, and therefore there is no possibility for a civilized dialogue.
The museum also emphasized that it views this incident as a serious matter of respect for the artwork and the author’s intellectual property.
“This is the second time something like this has happened,” museum representatives noted.
Last year, this same installation was at the center of a scandal due to the actions of one of the visitors. In July 2025, a man simply took and ate a fruit that was part of the exhibition.
The artist, Maurizio Cattelan, took the situation in stride at the time, noting that he was disappointed by the visitor’s decision to eat only the banana while ignoring the adhesive tape itself. At the time, museum officials decided not to file a report with law enforcement.
The provocative art installation “The Comic” was first presented to a wider audience at the international Art Basel exhibition in Miami Beach back in 2019.
Since its debut, the work has sparked endless international debates about the boundaries of contemporary art and the factors that determine the financial value of exhibits.
The history of the installation’s appearances in various galleries around the world has been accompanied by similar performance incidents. In that same year, 2019, artist David Datuna publicly ate a banana right in the middle of an exhibition, explaining his action as simply a feeling of hunger.
A similar incident occurred in 2023 in South Korea’s capital, Seoul, where a local student also ate an art object.
Despite ongoing controversy and mixed reactions from critics, the market value of this conceptual work has shown rapid growth over the years.
In November 2024, Justin Sun, the founder of a major cryptocurrency project, officially purchased one of the original versions of “Comic” for a record 5.8 million euros.
A few days after the auction, the new owner held a press conference in Hong Kong, where he also ate the purchased fruit in front of journalists’ cameras.
The main feature of this work is that its material value does not lie in the food item itself. The buyer pays for a unique certificate of authenticity and detailed instructions on proper display from the artist.
Owners receive the exclusive legal right to recreate the installation in any space according to specific parameters.
Euronews reports on this.
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