The disappearance was discovered Saturday afternoon by a security guard at the Centre Pompidou-Metz: the banana, the perishable element of Maurizio Cattelan's iconic work, Comedian—a banana attached to the wall with tape—had vanished. The museum announced the following day that it had filed a complaint against persons unknown. While "the value of the work lies in its certificate of authenticity and the protocol governing its presentation" rather than in the fruit itself, which is replaced every three days, "the institution condemns this act, which undermines the respect due to the works on display," the statement clarified. The banana was replaced, and the artwork was returned to its usual display as quickly as possible.
A second incident in less than a year, in a work with an already turbulent history
This isn't the first time Comedian has been the subject of an incident in Metz. In July 2025, a visitor ate the fruit to protest its price. This time, the center has chosen to file a complaint because the perpetrator is unidentified: "There's no possibility of dialogue," explained Elsa De Smet, head of communications, to AFP. "This is the second time this has happened," she added, citing a matter of respect for the artwork. Created in 2019, Comedian is presented as part of the "Endless Sunday" exhibition, which began in May 2025 and runs until January 25, 2027. The artwork, of which three copies exist, has provoked provocative reactions since its inception: in Miami, during its first exhibition, an artist ate it to protest its $120,000 price tag. In November 2021, a specimen sold for $5,2 million at Sotheby's was publicly ingested by Justin Sun, founder of the Tron cryptocurrency platform, who commented that "the banana is much better than other bananas."
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