{"id":9181,"date":"2024-11-21T16:22:00","date_gmt":"2024-11-21T16:22:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/?p=9181"},"modified":"2024-11-25T10:51:06","modified_gmt":"2024-11-25T10:51:06","slug":"viral-duct-taped-banana-fetches-6-2-million-at-auction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/viral-duct-taped-banana-fetches-6-2-million-at-auction\/","title":{"rendered":"Viral Duct-Taped Banana Fetches $6.2 Million at Auction"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>No conceptual artwork sparked more controversy in recent years than the lone banana duct-taped to a wall, known as <em>Comedian. This polarizing artwork by Maurizio Cattelan sparked a heated debate about the state of modern art &ndash; and someone just paid $6.2 million to own it!\n\n\n\n<p><em>Comedian went viral in 2019 when the Italian conceptional artist Maurizio Cattelan first shared it with the world. Some considered it a work of genius, while others questioned if it should even be called art, but the heated debate only upped its value, and Cattelan eventually sold two editions of this artwork for $120,000 apiece.\n\n\n\n<p>Five years later, one of the original owners decided to sell their banana, putting it for an auction at Sotheby&rsquo;s in New York. It was expected to fetch $1 million but managed to exceed everyone\u2019s wildest expectations, selling for $6.2 million after the Chinese crypto millionaire Justin Sun outbid six rivals to get his hands on this iconic artwork.\n\n\n\n</p><blockquote class='\"instagram-media\"' data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink='\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DCnaLpIsRnw\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\"' data-instgrm-version='\"14\"' style='\"' background: border:0 border-radius:3px box-shadow:0 rgba margin: max-width:540px min-width:326px padding:0 width:99.375 width:-webkit-calc width:calc><div style='\"padding:16px;\"'> <a href="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.instagram.com%5C/reel%5C/DCnaLpIsRnw%5C/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading%5C%22" style='\"' background: line-height:0 padding:0 text-align:center text-decoration:none width:100 target='\"_blank\"' rel='\"noopener\"'> <div style='\"' display: flex flex-direction: row align-items: center> <div style='\"background-color:' border-radius: flex-grow: height: margin-right: width:> <div style='\"display:' flex flex-direction: column flex-grow: justify-content: center> <div style='\"' background-color: border-radius: flex-grow: height: margin-bottom: width:> <div style='\"' background-color: border-radius: flex-grow: height: width:><div style='\"padding:'> <div style='\"display:block;' height:50px margin:0 auto width:50px><svg width='\"50px\"' height='\"50px\"' viewbox='\"0' version='\"1.1\"' xmlns='\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\"' xmlns:xlink='\"https:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\"'><g stroke='\"none\"' stroke-width='\"1\"' fill='\"none\"' fill-rule='\"evenodd\"'><g transform='\"translate(-511.000000,' fill='\"#000000\"'><g><path d='\"M556.869,30.41' c554.814 c553.148 c558.924 c560.59 m541 c535.114 c530.342 c546.887 c551.658 c532.1 c524.886 c549.9 c557.115 m565.378 c565.244 c563.803 c561.058 c557.607 c549.944 c533.003 c525.979 c521.94 c518.846 c517.244 c516.479 c516.448 c516.755 c518.197 c520.942 c524.393 c532.057 c548.997 c556.021 c560.06 c563.154 c564.756 c565.522 c565.552 m570.82 c570.674 c568.659 c564.297 c558.743 c550.169 c532.853 c525.438 c519.376 c514.368 c511.834 c511.035 c511 c511.326 c513.342 c517.703 c523.257 c531.831 c549.148 c556.562 c562.623 c567.633 c570.167 c570.966 c571><div style='\"padding-top:'> <div style='\"' color: font-family:arial font-size:14px font-style:normal font-weight:550 line-height:18px>View this post on Instagram<div style='\"padding:'> <div style='\"display:' flex flex-direction: row margin-bottom: align-items: center><div> <div style='\"background-color:' border-radius: height: width: transform: translatex translatey> <div style='\"background-color:' height: transform: rotate translatex translatey width: flex-grow: margin-right: margin-left:> <div style='\"background-color:' border-radius: height: width: transform: translatex translatey><div style='\"margin-left:'> <div style='\"' background-color: border-radius: flex-grow: height: width:> <div style='\"' width: height: border-top: solid transparent border-left: border-bottom: transform: translatex translatey rotate><div style='\"margin-left:' auto> <div style='\"' width: border-top: solid border-right: transparent transform: translatey> <div style='\"' background-color: flex-grow: height: width: transform: translatey> <div style='\"' width: height: border-top: solid border-left: transparent transform: translatey translatex> <div style='\"display:' flex flex-direction: column flex-grow: justify-content: center margin-bottom:> <div style='\"' background-color: border-radius: flex-grow: height: margin-bottom: width:> <div style='\"' background-color: border-radius: flex-grow: height: width:><p style='\"' color: font-family:arial font-size:14px line-height:17px margin-bottom:0 margin-top:8px overflow:hidden padding:8px text-align:center text-overflow:ellipsis white-space:nowrap><a href="%5C%22https:%5C/%5C/www.instagram.com%5C/reel%5C/DCnaLpIsRnw%5C/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading%5C%22" style='\"' color: font-family:arial font-size:14px font-style:normal font-weight:normal line-height:17px text-decoration:none target='\"_blank\"' rel='\"noopener\"'>A post shared by Sotheby's (@sothebys)\n<script async src="%5C%22%5C/%5C/www.instagram.com%5C/embed.js%5C%22"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>Sun was confirmed as the new owner of <em>Comedian <\/em>by Sotheby\u2019s and later addressed the sale on social media.&nbsp; If you\u2019re wondering what the future holds for the banana that broke the internet, Sun said he\u2019s planning to eat it \u201cas part of this unique artistic experience, honoring its place in both art history and popular culture.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">I\u2019m thrilled to announce that I\u2019ve bought the banana\ud83c\udf4c !!! <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SpaceX?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@SpaceX<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Sothebys?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@Sothebys<\/a> I am Justin Sun, and I\u2019m excited to share that I have successfully acquired Maurizio Cattelan\u2019s iconic work, Comedian for $6.2 million. This is not just an artwork; it represents a cultural phenomenon\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/lAj1RE6y0C\">pic.twitter.com\/lAj1RE6y0C<\/a><\/p>&mdash; H.E. Justin Sun \ud83c\udf4c (@justinsuntron) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/justinsuntron\/status\/1859403540315373942?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">November 21, 2024<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No conceptual artwork sparked more controversy in recent years than the lone banana duct-taped to a wall, known as Comedian. This polarizing artwork by Maurizio Cattelan sparked a heated debate about the state of modern art &#8211; and someone just paid $6.2 million to own it! Comedian went viral in 2019 when the Italian conceptional [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":25,"featured_media":9188,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,1512],"tags":[2315,2314,654,2316,2317,2318],"class_list":{"0":"post-9181","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-art","8":"category-viral","9":"tag-banana","10":"tag-banana-art","11":"tag-comedian","12":"tag-duct-tape-banana","13":"tag-justin-sun","14":"tag-maurizio-cattelan"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Viral Duct-Taped Banana Fetches $6.2 Million at Auction - TheWanderWit<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"No conceptual artwork sparked more controversy in recent years than the lone banana duct-taped to a wall, and someone just paid $6.2 million to own it!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/viral-duct-taped-banana-fetches-6-2-million-at-auction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Viral Duct-Taped Banana Fetches $6.2 Million at Auction - TheWanderWit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"No conceptual artwork sparked more controversy in recent years than the lone banana duct-taped to a wall, and someone just paid $6.2 million to own it!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/viral-duct-taped-banana-fetches-6-2-million-at-auction\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"TheWanderWit\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-11-21T16:22:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-11-25T10:51:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/shutterstock_editorial_14822892b_720-e1732531271420.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"531\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"456\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nikoleta\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nikoleta\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/viral-duct-taped-banana-fetches-6-2-million-at-auction\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/viral-duct-taped-banana-fetches-6-2-million-at-auction\/\",\"name\":\"Viral Duct-Taped Banana Fetches $6.2 Million at Auction - TheWanderWit\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/viral-duct-taped-banana-fetches-6-2-million-at-auction\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/viral-duct-taped-banana-fetches-6-2-million-at-auction\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/shutterstock_editorial_14822892b_720-e1732531271420.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-11-21T16:22:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-11-25T10:51:06+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/#\/schema\/person\/656fadce9cd59c1d43c1b339aa9a5cd1\"},\"description\":\"No conceptual artwork sparked more controversy in recent years than the lone banana duct-taped to a wall, and someone just paid $6.2 million to own it!\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/viral-duct-taped-banana-fetches-6-2-million-at-auction\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/viral-duct-taped-banana-fetches-6-2-million-at-auction\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/viral-duct-taped-banana-fetches-6-2-million-at-auction\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/shutterstock_editorial_14822892b_720-e1732531271420.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/thewanderwit.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/shutterstock_editorial_14822892b_720-e1732531271420.jpg\",\"width\":531,\"height\":456,\"caption\":\"Maurizio Cattelan's \\\"Comedian\\\" on display at a press preview for Sotheby's Evening Auction in October 2024. 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