Maurizio Cattelan Mania: Pranks, Bananas & Big Money – Are You In or Out?

From duct-taped bananas to museum heists: why Maurizio Cattelan is the ultimate troll of the art world – and why collectors still pay top dollar.

Is this still art – or the most stylish troll of our time? If you’ve ever seen a banana taped to a wall or a pope crushed by a meteor on your feed, you’ve already met Maurizio Cattelan. He’s the prank king of contemporary art – and the market still throws serious money at him.

Some people scream "genius", others say "my kid could do that" – but everyone has an opinion. And that is exactly why Cattelan is pure Art Hype. Ready to decide which camp you belong to?

Willst du sehen, was die Leute sagen? Hier geht's zu den echten Meinungen:

• Watch the wildest Maurizio Cattelan explainer videos on YouTube
• Scroll the boldest Maurizio Cattelan shots on Instagram
• Dive into viral Maurizio Cattelan TikToks now

The Internet is Obsessed: Maurizio Cattelan on TikTok & Co.

Cattelan’s art looks like it was born to go viral: super simple images with maximum drama. A banana on a wall. A horse hanging from the ceiling. A golden toilet called America that literally disappeared from a stately home.

On TikTok and Instagram, his works are the definition of shareable: you can explain them in one sentence, film them in two seconds and argue about them for hours. That’s why his pieces keep popping up in memes, hot takes and culture wars.

The vibe? Provocative, darkly funny, very memeable. He turns museums into stages for social experiments. People laugh, get angry, take selfies – and that reaction is part of the work. If you love irony and anti-elitist vibes, Cattelan is your guy.

Masterpieces & Scandals: What you need to know

Cattelan is not just about one viral banana. He has a whole career of headline-grabbing stunts and brutally honest images. Here are three must-know works to drop casually in any art convo:

• "Comedian" – the duct-taped banana
  This is the piece that broke the internet and triggered a thousand think pieces. A real banana, duct-taped to a gallery wall, editioned like a luxury item. The fruit gets replaced regularly, but the idea is the artwork. One performance artist went up and ate the banana in front of everyone – and that performance itself went instantly viral. Love it or hate it, "Comedian" turned the art market into a meme, while still selling for top dollar. The perfect symbol of our "if it’s viral, it’s valuable" era.
• "America" – the 18-karat gold toilet
  A fully functioning toilet made of solid gold, titled like the country that loves success and excess. Visitors were invited to actually use it, turning luxury into a very literal bathroom joke. Then came the twist: the piece was stolen from a historic British country house where it was on view, sparking headlines that sounded like satire but were completely real. It’s Cattelan in a nutshell – absurd, political, and perfectly built for global news cycles.
• "La Nona Ora" – the fallen Pope
  One of his early scandal magnets: a hyper-realistic sculpture of Pope John Paul II struck down by a meteorite, lying on a red carpet. Religious groups were outraged, collectors were fascinated, museums argued about whether to show it. Visually, it hits you in seconds: power, faith, vulnerability, humiliation – all in one image. It cemented Cattelan’s reputation as a fearless provocateur who doesn’t care if you’re offended.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. There’s also the tiny self-portrait hanging from a coat hanger, taxidermy animals in tragic poses, and even a full-size Hitler kneeling in prayer. If you’re looking for comfy, feel-good art, this is not it – but if you want intensity, he delivers.

The Price Tag: What is the art worth?

Cattelan is not a newcomer. He’s a full-on blue-chip artist – the kind of name that auction houses love to put in bold letters in their evening sales.

Verified auction records show that his top works have achieved multi-million-level prices at major houses like Christie’s and Sotheby’s. A key example: his hyper-real Hitler sculpture, often referred to as "Him", has reached very high seven-figure territory at auction, underlining just how strong his market is when the right piece comes up.

Other iconic works, like the fallen Pope and major taxidermy installations, have also traded at top-tier prices, placing Cattelan firmly in the "Big Money" zone of contemporary art. Even when exact numbers stay behind paywalls, the pattern is clear: the most controversial pieces bring in serious cash.

For younger collectors, entry points are usually not the large installations you see in museums, but smaller editions, photographs related to exhibitions, or works on paper. These are still far from cheap, but they’re more approachable than museum-scale showpieces.

His market reputation: high demand, limited supply, global recognition. He’s been featured at major biennials, in top museums and at leading galleries such as Perrotin. In art-world language, that’s about as "legit" as it gets.

How he got here: from outsider to legend

Maurizio Cattelan was born in Italy and started out without the traditional art-school path. Early on, he leaned into the role of the outsider – faking his own exhibitions, staging pranks instead of painting pretty canvases.

He became famous in the 1990s and 2000s for works that looked simple but cut deep: a horse stuck halfway in a wall, a child-sized figure hanging from a tree, a gallery literally closed because the artist "wasn’t there". Instead of making objects to worship, he created moments that made people uncomfortable in public.

Major museums have since given him solo shows, and his retrospective "All" at the Guggenheim in New York (where his works hung from the rotunda like a chaotic chandelier) turned him into a living legend. He even announced a "retirement" at one point – but, in classic Cattelan style, he never really left. The pranks continued.

See it Live: Exhibitions & Dates

Cattelan’s work appears regularly in big museums and galleries worldwide, but schedules shift fast. Current publicly listed information points to a strong presence in major collections and recurring shows, yet specific new exhibition dates are not always clearly announced in advance.

No current dates available that can be verified reliably right now for a fresh blockbuster solo show. Many works, however, are visible in permanent or long-term displays in contemporary art museums and collections across the globe.

If you’re planning a trip or want to catch his pieces in real life, your best move is to check directly with his representing gallery and official channels:

• Latest updates and exhibitions via Perrotin
• Official artist information and background

Tip: many big museums mention Cattelan works in their online collection search. Before you travel, search their sites for "Maurizio Cattelan" to see what is actually on view.

The Verdict: Hype or Legit?

If you want pretty decor, Cattelan isn’t for you. If you want art that messes with your head, calls out power, money and religion, and still dominates your For You Page, he’s a must-follow.

He’s both: pure Hype and absolutely Legit. The hype comes from the memes, the selfies, the scandals. The legitimacy comes from the depth behind the joke, the museum backing and the long-term, high-value market.

So what should you do? At least this: watch the videos, zoom in on the images, and ask yourself why a banana, a toilet or a fallen pope can trigger such intense reactions. If an artwork can still make the whole internet argue, it’s probably worth your attention.

And who knows – today you’re just doom-scrolling his bananas, tomorrow you might be hunting down a small edition as your first serious art investment.

@ ad-hoc-news.de