The banana of Maurizio Cattelan eaten in the Pompidou center in Metz

The Italian artist. However, whose tapered fruit is estimated at several million euros, regretted that a visitor has confused “the fruit with the work itself”

Un visitor “ate” the banana being part of the work Comedian From Maurizio Cattelan. Consequently, estimated at several million euros and presented in the exhibition “Surprise without an end” at the Center banana maurizio cattelan eaten pompidou Pompidou in Metz, we learned on Friday from the museum. Meanwhile, “The surveillance team intervened quickly. Moreover, calmly, in accordance with internal procedures”indicates the communication of the museum in a message addressed to AFP, confirming daily information The Lorraine Republican.

The work. which presents a real banana taped to a wall, “Was reinstalled in the minutes that followed”specifies the museum. “The fruit is only an perishable element, regularly replaced according to a specific protocol defined by the artist”. The Pompidou center ensures that the incident “In any way. has not altered the integrity of the work or the smooth running of the exhibition, which remains fully accessible to the public”. According to The Lorraine Republicanno complaint has been filed.

Maurizio Cattelan banana maurizio cattelan eaten pompidou regretted that the visitor “Confuse the fruit with the work itself”. “Rather than eating bananas with your skin. scotch the visitor has just consumed the fruit”he noticed, quoted by the communication of the museum. The work. which exists in three copies, supposed to question the notion of art and its value, has been talked about a lot since its first exhibition in 2019 in Miami, where another artist had eaten it to denounce its price, at the time 120,000 dollars.

Two years later, in November 2021, a copy of the work had been bought during an auction at $ 5.2 million (or 6.2 million with the costs) by Justin Sun, founder of the Cryptomonnaies Tron platform. The Sino-American entrepreneur had engulfed the banana a few days later before dozens of journalists and influencers. “She is much better than other bananas”he said after swallowing the first bite.