How a banana becomes worth $6 million

"Comedian" is the most famous artwork by Maurizio Cattelan, an Italian artist who had a retrospective at the Guggenheim in 2011, and whose auction record, set in 2016, stands at $17.2 million.

• In most news reports, however, including this one, it's generally referred to as "a banana," or "the banana."

Why it matters: "Comedian" sold for $6.2 million at auction last week — a ludicrous price for a banana, but a perfectly normal price for a major piece of contemporary art.

The big picture: Comedy has always struggled with being taken seriously, and Cattelan, often referred to as a "prankster," is one of very few major artists who work mostly in a comedic vein.

• If a serious work by Anselm Kiefer or Bill Viola sold for this much, no eyebrows would be raised.
• Partly because of its comic nature, however, "Comedian" seems to invite ridicule.

Where it stands: "Comedian" can be placed in a long line of conceptual artworks where everyday objects are transformed into art.

• Marcel Duchamp started producing his "readymades" 110 years ago, in 1914, when he presented a bottle rack as art. That was followed up with a snow shovel, a urinal, and many others.
• The Tate Gallery in London caused a minor scandal when it acquired "Equivalent VIII," a 1966 Carl Andre work comprising everyday house bricks, in 1972.
• The idea of an artwork that is executed by the owner according to the artist's instructions is more than half a century old, dating back at least to a Sol Lewitt show at Paula Cooper gallery in 1968.

Between the lines: Cattelan is one of the few artists whose artworks have become memes. That, too, is nothing new — the Mona Lisa was a meme that could be remixed by Duchamp more than a century ago.

• Other such works include Andy Warhol's portraits of Marilyn Monroe, one of which sold in 2022 for $195 million, or Shepard Fairey's "OBEY" portrait of Andre the Giant, available in an unlimited edition for just $30.

Zoom in: A lot of attention has been paid to the materials used in "Comedian" — a banana and some duct tape, both of which can be replaced (or even eaten) an unlimited number of times according to the will of the owner.

• Justin Sun, the winning bidder, promised to eat the banana that was on show at Sotheby's. After all, he does own it — and will continue to own it, and be able to exhibit it, whatever happens to this particular fruit.

Zoom out: Over the past few years, memes have often been monetized via NFTs or cryptocurrencies.

• Sun was the underbidder on the Beeple NFT that sold for $69 million in 2021.
• There's a "Comedian" memecoin, known as BAN, which was invented by a Sotheby's staffer and which currently has a market capitalization of about $138 million — a number that rose as high as $343 million before the auction.
• That level of crypto-world interest in the work helps to explain both Sun's involvement in the bidding and the multimillion-dollar final price.

The bottom line: "Comedian" is a legitimate artwork, by a legitimate artist. Its value, while amusing to many, is not particularly difficult to understand.