New York Auction: Banana Art Piece Sold for $6.24 Million

A banana taped to a wall, created by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, has been sold at a record price of $6.24 million (approximately 1.7 billion Pakistani rupees) at a New York auction. The artwork, titled Comedian, was originally estimated to fetch between $1 million and $1.5 million. The bidding started at $800,000.

Sotheby’s auction house revealed that the piece was purchased by Justin Sun, a Chinese collector and the founder of a cryptocurrency platform. Before the auction, the artwork was displayed in multiple cities, including New York, London, Paris, Milan, Hong Kong, Dubai, Taipei, Tokyo, and Los Angeles.

Comedian first gained attention at the 2019 Art Basel Miami Beach fair, with many questioning whether it was a joke or a commentary on the current state of art. Despite initial skepticism, the piece sparked crowds of selfie-takers and has since sold in editions for between $120,000 and $150,000.

In 2023, a South Korean art student controversially ate the banana during an exhibition, claiming he was hungry, and no action was taken against him. Similarly, in 2019, performance artist David Datuna ate the banana at Art Basel Miami, with a replacement banana being placed afterward.