Has he gone bananas? The artist Maurizio Cattelan’s controversial work Comedian has sold for a huge sum. Some think the art world has lost the plot.
Crypto boss buys a banana for £5m
Seriously?: The sale was the first time that “Comedian” (above) had appeared at auction, after first making a splash at Miami’s Art Basel fair in 2019 before travelling the world. The banana is one of an edition of three. Glossary
Cryptocurrency - A digital currency in which transactions are verified and records maintained by a decentralised system using cryptography, rather than by a centralised authority.
Blockchain - A secure database which records transactions, especially cryptocurrency transactions.
Pope - The bishop of Rome and the head of the worldwide Catholic Church.
Asteroid - A small body in space, made of metal and rock material. Asteroids usually orbit the sun, but if knocked off course they can be drawn into Earth’s gravity and fall towards it.
NFT - Non-fungible tokens are digital tokens that represent ownership of unique items. They can be bought and traded online.