The Italian artist who created the banana duct-taped to a wall that sold this week for $6.2 million, said in an interview published on Friday that the work was a "provocation" and an invitation to appreciate the true value of art.

A conceptual artwork by Maurizio Cattelan, “Comedian,” is just a fruit-stand banana taped on the wall. But 7 bidders were biting. It went to a crypto entrepreneur.

Forget your 99-cent grocery store banana—this one could cost you $1.5 million. No, it’s not genetically engineered or dipped in gold; it’s a regular banana

If you thought the first price tag on Maurizio Cattelan’s viral banana duct-taped to a wall installation was obscene. This one might make you go bananas.

Consisting of a banana and duct tape, Maurizio Cattelan's “Comedian,” which went viral during its debut in 2019, sold at Soetheby's for $6.2 million.

A banana duct-taped to a white wall — or an acclaimed piece of art, depending on how you look at it — sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $US6.24 ($A9.57) million on Wednesday. Maurizio Cattelan’s Comedian is comprised simply of a banana stuck to the wall with a strip of silver duct tape and is hung exactly 160cm from the floor.

"Comedian," Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan's piece that features a single banana duct-taped to a wall, sold at auction Wednesday night for $6.24 million, auction house Sotheby's said. Why it matters: The controversial work first sold in 2019 for $120,

Cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun dropped over $6 million on a banana duct-taped to wall by artist Maurizio Cattelan — and he intends to eat it.

Comedian,” by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, was a phenomenon when it debuted in 2019 at Art Basel Miami Beach.

Comedian, a sculpture by the artist Maurizio Cattelan, consisting of a piece of duct tape and a banana stuck to a wall, has sold for $6.2 million at Sotheby’s in New York after more than six minutes of fierce bidding.