The World’s Most Expensive Banana Led Sotheby’s Dynamic Now and Contemporary Sale

The art world went absolutely bananas last night—literally—when Maurizio Cattelan’s scandalous Comedian (2019)  ignited a feverish ten-minute bidding war at Sotheby’s “The Now and Contemporary Evening Sale.” Seven bidders duked it out before the gavel finally fell at a hammer price of $5.2 million, or a whopping $6,240,000 with fees. The winning bid came in via phone, offered by a mystery buyer repped by Jen Hua, Sotheby’s deputy chairman of Asia. At the rostrum was Sotheby’s auctioneer Oliver Barker, who couldn’t resist a perfectly timed zinger: “Only at Sotheby’s can you get your expensive banana. Don’t let it slip away.” It was a quintessential Cattelan moment—equal parts absurd and brilliant.

With this sale, the ever-provocative Italian artist scored another performance-art coup, gleefully poking fun at the very system that made him rich. After all, Comedian—an ephemeral but conceptually razor-sharp artwork consisting of a banana duct-taped to a wall—was already turning heads when it debuted at Art Basel in 2019, selling for $120,000. Three years and a full market cycle later, it’s achieved the ultimate flex: skyrocketing to a multimillion-dollar sale at a blue-chip auction house. Cattelan once described the piece as “a sincere commentary and a reflection on what we value,” and last night, the market showed it values this banana more than most fine art.

Shortly after the hammer fell, Justin Sun, the not uncontroversial founder of the crypto platform Tron, confirmed on X that he was the buyer. Sun framed his purchase as more than just owning a viral artwork, calling Comedian “a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes and the cryptocurrency community.”

Appropriately, Comedian was the only lot in the sale that Sotheby’s opened to cryptocurrency payments. Sun’s purchase is a cheeky match for his brand, as the artwork itself—a banana that comes with a certificate of ownership and mounting instructions—mirrors the conceptual dynamics of NFTs: ephemeral, symbolic and entirely reliant on the legal and linguistic framework of its ownership. Sun even plans to take his role as collector to a new level, promising to eat the banana as part of what he describes as a “unique artistic experience.”

“I believe this piece will inspire more thought and discussion in the future and will become a part of history,” he said in the same statement. “I am honored to be the proud owner of this iconic work and look forward to it sparking further inspiration and impact for art enthusiasts around the world.”

In its way, Comedian has done more than just provoke; it highlights the tangled relationships between physical and digital assets and the conceptual and legal frameworks that underpin their value. Even Emmanuel Perrotin, whose gallery originally sold the work at Art Basel, chimed in with an Instagram post reading: “The result at Sotheby’s adds yet another chapter to its story, which is far from over! The banana will remain a powerful symbol.” One of the three editions Perrotin sold in Miami now resides in the Guggenheim Museum, giving it an institutional afterlife that adds another layer to its already iconic status.

But the energy in the Sotheby’s sale room last night wasn’t just bananas—it was spine-tingling from start to finish, starting with a work by Japanese artist Yu Nishimura. The bidding opened modestly at $20,000, a figure aligned with his primary market prices just a year ago, but quickly shot to a jaw-dropping $110,000 hammer ($132,000 with fees) after a heated back-and-forth among phone bidders, online participants and bidders in the room. The work ultimately went to Garrette Furo, a young Brooklyn-based collector and crypto entrepreneur who was seated in the audience. This result shouldn’t come as a shock—access to Nishimura has become nearly impossible in recent months, with his galleries, Galerie Crèvecœur and Sadie Coles HQ, strategically positioning him in different regions. Adding to the momentum, ARCH, a private foundation in Athens, dedicated an entire show to the artist last summer in a building at the foot of the Acropolis.

The dynamic bidding continued through the first thirty lots until the evening hit its first stumble with Gerhard Richter’s Berg. Estimated to fetch $4 million, the piece fell short at $3.9 million and went unsold. By then, however, the auction house had already racked up impressive results. A Louis Fratino work leapt from a starting bid of $60,000 to hammer at $260,000 ($312,000 with fees) after vigorous phone bidding from Europe. This was a solid return, considering the consignor had acquired it from Ciccia Levi’s show in 2021. Shortly after, a Kai Althoff painting from 2008—originally purchased from Gladstone Gallery the same year it was created—sold within its estimate for $960,000, while a small Laura Owens work smashed its presale estimate, doubling to sell for $720,000. Meanwhile, a surreal painting by Pol Tabouret, a rising star and Pinault protégé, raced past its $70,000 opening bid to achieve $156,000, setting a record for the artist. Hilary Pecis, too, saw a work acquired from Rachel Uffner Gallery in 2021 sold for $504,000.

However, not every lot had the same spark. Jadé Fadojutimi’s Taught Thought (2021), a gestural abstraction in pink, sold squarely within its estimate. While the sale aligned with expectations, it lacked the drama one might expect, especially given her sold-out debut show at Gagosian, which might have added extra heat to her market. Similarly, Richard Prince’s Nurse on Trial, a rare offering from his “Nurse” series, also landed within its estimate, selling for $6.7 million after a bidding duel between the phones and the room. While the “Nurse” works saw stratospheric prices in the mid-2000s, reaching nearly $9 million, their market cooled significantly during the late-2008 downturn, making last night’s result more in line with recent valuations.

Curiously, the lots following Cattelan’s Comedian—which might have been overshadowed by the viral moment—actually performed robustly. A striking painting by Suzanne Jackson from 1974, debuting at auction after a year of institutional acclaim, including the Whitney Biennial, smashed expectations by more than doubling its high estimate to sell for $288,000. Miyoko Ito, a Chicago-based “Allusive Abstractionist” from the 1980s, achieved $495,000 for a work from her limited oeuvre, a strong result given the artist’s slow but steady market ascent, with a record of $560,700 set last year. Myron Stout, known for his minimalist black-and-white canvases, also shined with a fresh-to-auction work that hammered at $900,000, comfortably exceeding its $300,000-500,000 estimate.

Not every big name delivered fireworks. Ed Ruscha’s movie-inspired piece hammered under estimate for $3 million, though six works consigned directly from the Roy Lichtenstein Estate performed exceptionally well, five exceeding estimates and racking up a combined total of $18 million. Later, a more iconic Ruscha work, Georges’ Flag (1999), sparked an intense bidding war between phone bidders and a man seated in the first row, ultimately selling for $13,650,000—a strong return given its prior sale at Christie’s in 2005 for $1,584,000. Christopher Wool’s signature text painting from 1992, part of a once-floundering market for “Zombie Formalists,” fared decently, achieving $2,420,000. Agnes Martin’s delicate Untitled #12 (1999) also saw a respectable result, selling for slightly above its estimate at $3,120,000.

As the sale wound to a close, the earlier fervor gave way to a noticeable chill. Jeff Koons’ Woman in the Tub hit the block to complete silence—both in the room and from phone and online bidders. A half-hearted chandelier bid managed to inch it up to $9.8 million, but the work ultimately went unsold. In the final stretch, Sotheby’s recorded four additional unsold works, including pieces by Cy Twombly, the aforementioned Gerhard Richter and Jasper Johns, bringing the tally of passed lots to five. Not bad for a sale of forty-six lots—especially given that three were withdrawn before the auction began. Other results in the latter half were steady if unremarkable, with works like Yayoi Kusama’s signature yellow pumpkin sculpture selling within estimate for $2,340,000.

By the end of the night, Sotheby’s totaled $112.3 million. While Cattelan’s banana didn’t contribute significantly to the final figure, it was undoubtedly the evening’s showstopper, overshadowing every other result with its sheer absurdity and cultural buzz. The sale’s strong performance overall suggests the market remains resilient, even if certain marquee names failed to deliver fireworks. A day later, however, few seemed concerned about the state of the art market. Instead, most conversations revolved around Comedian’s headline-grabbing moment and its implications for art history. With the week of auctions in full swing, all eyes now turn to Christie’s 21st Century Auction tonight—the final market litmus test before the frenzy of Miami Art Week begins.