Banana duct-taped to wall sells at auction for £4.9m

It's been described as the 'most talked-about artwork of the century'

The provocative artwork sold for four times higher than pre-sale estimates at Sotheby's auction house, and was purchased by a Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun.

The art is called 'Comedian' and is the bizarre brain child of Italian visual artist Maurizio Cattelan.

Sun outbid six rivals for the art, and has said he will eat the banana in the coming days "as part of this unique artistic experience."

The fruit used to create the installation had been purchased for just $0.35 earlier in the day, the BBC reports.

'Comedian' went viral in 2019 when it was first unveiled, sparking huge debate about what constitutes a piece of art.

The installation has travelled around the world and even comes with instructions on how to replace the banana if it rots.

Sotheby's described it as "passionately debated, rhapsodically venerated, and hotly contested," and labelled it the "most talked-about artwork of the century."

On two occasions, the banana has been eaten. Last year, a student in South Korean mistakenly ate the art when it went on display at Seoul's Leeum Museum of Art. The banana was replaced in the same spot by the museum.

Back in 2019, a performance artist David Datuna pulled the fruit from the wall and ate it after 'Comedian' was sold for $120,000 at Art Basel in Miami.

The banana was swiftly replaced and no further action was taken.

Datuna later defended his actions, and said it was his own art performance and not an act of vandalism.