FRENCH MUSEUM FILES CRIMINAL COMPLAINT AFTER ARTWORK BANANA GOES MISSING

The Pompidou-Metz reports the theft of a fruit installation by Maurizio Cattelan. The investigation has been opened against persons unknown.

The Pompidou-Metz museum in Metz, France, has lodged a criminal complaint against persons unknown after a banana taped to the wall — an installation titled Comedian by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan — was reported missing on May 31, according to Gulf News.

A security guard noticed the banana's absence during routine surveillance. The museum's complaint identifies the missing item as a work of art, rather than as a perishable good.

The work itself, per the terms of its sale, consists of a certificate of authenticity and instructions for affixing a new banana to the wall. A previous edition of Comedian sold at Sotheby's in November 2024 for $6.2 million; the buyer subsequently ate it at a press conference.

Kevin Dunnehey, present in the gallery at the time of the theft, was overheard explaining to other visitors that "the real art isn't the banana, it's the idea of the banana as art, you see, the banana itself is replaceable, that's the whole point." Museum staff escorted Mr. Dunnehey to a designated wall, where he has since been affixed with duct tape pending further review.

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