<\/p>\n
An art museum in France has filed a legal complaint after a banana that makes up part of Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan\u2019s controversial artwork \u201cComedian\u201d was stolen.<\/p>\n
The theft was reported by a security guard at the Centre Pompidou-Metz in the city of Metz, eastern France, on Saturday, according to a statement from the museum published the same day.<\/p>\n
The gallery \u201chas filed a complaint with the relevant authorities against persons unknown,\u201d it said in the statement.<\/p>\n
The theft \u201cundermines the respect due to the works on display and temporarily deprives visitors of part of the experience offered by the exhibition,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n
It noted, however, that \u201cthe perishable component of the work has been replaced, and the work has been restored to its original presentation as quickly as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n
This is not the first incident involving \u201cComedian,\u201d which comprises a fresh banana taped to a wall.<\/p>\n
In 2019, when Cattelan unveiled the work at the Art Basel Miami art fair in Florida, performance artist David Datuna grabbed the banana from the wall, before peeling and eating it in front of hundreds of stunned fair attendees.<\/p>\n
Then, in 2023, an art student took the banana from a wall at the Leeum Museum of Art in Seoul, South Korea, and ate it.<\/p>\n
And in November 2024, Justin Sun, a Chinese collector and founder of a cryptocurrency platform, acquired \u201cComedian\u201d for $6.24 million at auction \u2014 before eating the banana.<\/p>\n