{"id":615282,"date":"2026-06-01T13:29:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T13:29:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/615282\/"},"modified":"2026-06-01T13:29:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T13:29:08","slug":"gone-bananas-cattelans-comedian-stolen-from-centre-pompidou-metz-exhibition-the-art-newspaper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/615282\/","title":{"rendered":"Gone bananas: Cattelan’s Comedian stolen from Centre Pompidou-Metz exhibition – The Art Newspaper"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maurizio Cattelan\u2019s (in)famous duct-taped banana has briefly gone missing<\/a> from a show in northern France. The work, known as Comedian (2019), is on display in the exhibition Endless Sunday-Maurizio Cattelan and the Centre Pompidou Collection<\/a>\u00a0at the Centre-Pompidou Metz (until 25 January 2027).<\/p>\n

According to a statement from the museum, the work by the Italian artist was \u201cstolen\u201d on 30 May. The disappearance of the banana, which constitutes \u201cthe perishable element of the work\u201d, was reported by a museum security guard. The banana has already been replaced and the \u201cwork has been restored to its original presentation as quickly as possible\u201d.<\/p>\n

The museum has filed a complaint with the authorities, although the perpetrators remain unknown. In its statement on the theft, the museum highlights that \u201cthe value of the work lies in its certificate of authenticity and then the protocol governing its presentation rather than in its perishable element.\u201c<\/p>\n

The statement adds: \u201cThe institution nevertheless condemns this act which undermines the respect due to the works on display and temporarily deprives visitors of part of the experience offered by the exhibition. In accordance with the protocol established for this work no irreversible damage was observed.\u201d<\/p>\n

The banana is indeed an easy target; last year a visitor ate the fruit shortly after the exhibition opened in May at the Centre Pompidou-Metz. It has also been consumed<\/a> by a performance artist at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019, when it was unveiled<\/a>, and\u00a0again by a hungry art student at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul in 2023.<\/p>\n

Comedian\u00a0has been derided as both a consequence of art-market excess and lauded as a tongue-in-cheek symbol of its own absurdity. When asked about the work, Cattelan told<\/a> The Art Newspaper\u00a0in 2021:\u00a0\u201cTo me, Comedian\u00a0was not a joke; it was a sincere commentary and a reflection on what we value. At art fairs, speed and business reign, so I saw it like this: if I had to be at a fair, I could sell a banana like others sell their paintings. I could play within the system, but with my rules.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Maurizio Cattelan\u2019s (in)famous duct-taped banana has briefly gone missing from a show in northern France. The work, known…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":615283,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[10746,6225,6485,6486,83590,9646,1120,96,9647,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-615282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-art-theft","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-banana","tag-centre-pompidou-metz","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-maurizio-cattelan","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=615282"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/615282\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/615283"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=615282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=615282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=615282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}