Banana Theft from Maurizio Cattelan’s $5.2 Million Artwork Triggers Police Complaint in France
मुख्य बातें
- •A banana at the center of Maurizio Cattelan’s artwork *Comedian* was stolen from the Pompidou-Metz museum in France, prompting a criminal complaint.
- •The fruit is part of a work valued at $5.2 million after its recent sale to crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, who publicly ate a version of it in 2024.
- •This is the second such incident at the museum; in 2023, a visitor ate the banana, but no legal action was taken.
- •The museum cited the unidentified perpetrator as the reason for filing a complaint, emphasizing respect for the artwork.
- •Cattelan is also known for *America*, a gold toilet stolen in 2020 and later ruled on by a British court in 2024.
- •The theft reflects ongoing debates about the nature, value, and vulnerability of contemporary conceptual art installations.
A branch of the renowned Pompidou Centre in eastern France has reported the theft of a banana that formed the core of a multimillion-dollar artwork by Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan. The incident occurred at the Pompidou-Metz museum, which lodged a criminal complaint against unknown persons after a guard noticed the banana missing from the provocative installation titled *Comedian* on Saturday. The museum confirmed it had replaced the fruit and emphasized that such perishable elements are routinely refreshed every three days to maintain the work’s intended contemporary state.
