NEW YORK — A banana that for years has stirred controversy in the art world sold for $6.2 million with fees at Sotheby’s contemporary art auction Wednesday night. It became what is arguably the most expensive fruit in the world — though it will likely be tossed in a couple of days.

纽约——周三晚，在苏富比当代艺术拍卖会上，一根多年来在艺术界引起争议的香蕉以620万美元（含佣金）的价格成交。这可以说是世界上最昂贵的水果——尽管可能过不了几天就要扔掉。

The banana is the star of a 2019 conceptual artwork, “Comedian,” by noted prankster Maurizio Cattelan, which is intended to be duct-taped onto the wall. It comes with a certificate of authenticity and installation instructions for owners to replace the banana — if they wish — whenever it rots. Five minutes of rapid bidding ended when Chinese-born crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun placed the winning bid, besting six other rivals, which experts said was a sign that even a struggling market would spend big on spectacle.

这根香蕉是著名恶作剧大师毛里齐奥·卡泰兰2019年的概念艺术作品《喜剧演员》（Comedian）的主角，其设定是把香蕉用胶带粘在墙上。它附有真品证书和装置说明，如果香蕉腐烂了，其主人可以随时更换——如果他们愿意的话。五分钟的快速竞价结束时，生于中国的加密货币企业家孙宇晨击败其他六名竞争对手拍下这件作品。专家表示，这表明，即使在市场不景气之际，也会有人愿意为引人瞩目的奇观花大钱。

“Returns in the market have been flat or decreasing over the last decade,” said Michael Moses, who tracks the investment potential of artworks for clients. “It’s a fascinating asset because you can get so much joy from it that people are willing to accept lower returns. Joy is not something to be messed with.”

“在过去十年里，市场的回报一直持平或在下降，”为客户追踪艺术品投资潜力的迈克尔·摩西说。“艺术品是一种令人着迷的资产，因为你可以从中获得太多乐趣，以至于人们愿意接受比较低的回报。快乐是不能被破坏的。”

Indeed, Sun said in a statement that the work “represents a cultural phenomenon that bridges the worlds of art, memes and the cryptocurrency community.” 

确实，孙宇晨在声明中说，这件作品“代表了一种文化现象，它连接了艺术、米姆和加密币社区的世界。”

Sun, who watched the auction from Hong Kong, added that “in the coming days, I will personally eat the banana as part of this unique artistic experience, honoring its place in both art history and popular culture.”

孙宇晨在香港观看了这场拍卖，他还说，“在未来几天，我将亲自吃掉这根香蕉，作为这一独特艺术体验的一部分，以纪念它在艺术史和流行文化中的地位。”

On a phone call, he predicted that since the election of Donald J. Trump, and a rise in the value of cryptocurrencies, “I think we are still going to see strong art buying from the crypto community.”

在电话采访中，他预测道由于特朗普的胜选，以及虚拟货币价格上涨，“我认为我们会看到虚拟社区对艺术品的强劲购买力。”

The Cattelan artwork first appeared at Art Basel Miami Beach, where Perrotin Gallery sold three editions of “Comedian” for $120,000 to $150,000 each. But the crowds proved so disruptive that the gallery eventually took the banana out of the booth after a performance artist, David Datuna, ripped it off the wall and ate it. At Sotheby’s, the banana returned with an estimate between $1 million and $1.5 million, but the final hammer price — $5.2 million, plus auction-house fees, for a total of $6.2 million — sextupled its low estimate.

卡泰兰的这件作品最早亮相是在迈阿密海滩巴塞尔艺术展上，当时贝浩登画廊以12万至15万美元不等的单价售出了三版《喜剧演员》。但最后拥挤的人群导致场面过于混乱，在行为艺术家戴维·达图纳把香蕉从墙上扯下来吃掉后，画廊终于将作品从展位撤下。在苏富比，这根香蕉再次回归，其估价在100万到150万美元之间，但最终520万美元的成交价格（含手续费总价为620万美元）是最低估价的六倍。

The work became a media sensation, appearing on the cover of The New York Post. Some critics were more generous than the tabloids. Writing in The New York Times, Jason Farago explained that the title “Comedian” is ironic — “for Mr. Cattelan, like all the best clowns, is a tragedian who makes our certainties as slippery as a banana peel.”

这部作品引起了媒体轰动，登上了《纽约邮报》头版。一些评论家比小报更加不吝好评。杰森·法拉戈在《纽约时报》上解释说，《喜剧演员》这个名称具有讽刺意味——“因为卡泰兰就像所有最好的小丑一样，是一个悲剧演员，他让我们的确定感显得好像香蕉皮一样，滑溜溜的靠不住。”

Back then, the artist said he conceived of his work as a satirical jab at market speculation, asking the question, “On what basis does an object acquire value in the art system?” In a recent email interview, he added that, “The auction will be the apex of its career. I’m eager to see what the answers will be.”

艺术家当时说，他认为这件作品是对市场投机的讽刺，它提出了这样一个问题：“一件物品在艺术体系中获得价值的基础是什么？”在前不久的电子邮件采访中，他还声称，“这次拍卖将是它的生涯巅峰。我很想知道答案是什么。”

From Stand Fruit to Auction Royalty

从小摊水果到拍场贵族

The actual Dole banana taped to the wall of Sotheby’s on Wednesday evening was bought earlier in the day from a nearby fruit stand on the Upper East Side of Manhattan for 35 cents. Running the stand was a man from Bangladesh who did not give his name and said that he was not aware that one of his bananas was selling for several thousand times its original price.

周三晚上，贴在苏富比拍卖行墙上的那根都乐香蕉是当天早些时候在曼哈顿上东区附近一个水果摊上花35美分买到的。摊主是一名来自孟加拉国的男子。他没有透露自己的姓名，他说自己不知道自己售出的其中一根香蕉卖到了原价的几千万倍。

“I bet the Sotheby’s staff absolutely can’t wait to stop having to listen to banana jokes and pretend like it’s the first time they heard them,” said art adviser David Norman. “It has to be excruciating!”

“我敢打赌，苏富比的工作人员肯定已经听够了那些香蕉笑话了，还要假装是第一次听到，”艺术顾问戴维·诺曼说。“肯定很难装！”

The winner, Sun, has spent millions on traditional and digital art. His collection ranges from a 1974 Giacometti sculpture purchased at auction for $78.4 million in 2021 to a nearly $600,000 non-fungible token of a pet rock.

竞拍获胜者孙宇晨在购买传统艺术和数字艺术方面已花费了数以百万计美元。他的藏品包括一件贾科梅蒂1974年的雕塑（2021年以7840万美元的价格在拍卖会上购得），他还以近60万美元买了一块宠物石玩具的非同质化代币。

“The conceptual nature of the artwork has drawn interest not only from our traditional collecting community but also from the wider crypto community,” Karina Sokolovsky, a Sotheby’s spokesperson, acknowledged. “We’ve received requests from potential bidders to pay with crypto.”

“这件艺术品的概念性不仅引起了我们传统收藏界的兴趣，也引起了更广泛的加密社区的兴趣，”苏富比的发言人卡琳娜·索科洛夫斯基承认。“我们收到了潜在竞拍者要求用加密货币支付的请求。”

Cattelan, 64, who in 2016 installed a solid-gold toilet in a bathroom at the Guggenheim Museum and once duct-taped his own dealer to the wall of a gallery, has often criticized the art market, saying auctions are unfair to artists, who do not generally stand to benefit (except in publicity). “What bothers me is that after the first sale, the artist no longer profits as the work changes hands,” he said in an interview. “Auction houses and collectors reap the benefits, while the creator, who makes the very object driving the market, is left out.”

今年64岁的卡泰兰2016年在古根海姆博物馆的浴室里安装了一个纯金马桶，还曾把自己的艺术经销商用胶带粘在一家画廊的墙上。他经常批评艺术市场，说拍卖对艺术家不公平，他们通常不会从中受益（除了获得媒体关注）。“让我困扰的是，第一次拍卖之后，艺术家就无法再从作品的易手中获利了，”他在接受采访时说。“拍卖行和收藏家从中获利，而推动市场发展的创作者却被排除在外。”

The banana was the last of just 10 lots offered in the “Now” portion of Sotheby’s two-section contemporary art sale Wednesday. The equivalent “Now” auction in 2022 — the last boom year for the art market — had 23 lots and raised $72.9 million.

在周三的苏富比当代艺术品拍卖会上，这根香蕉是当代艺术部分仅有的10件拍品中的最后一件。2022年，也就是上一个艺术市场的繁荣年，同样的当代艺术拍卖有23件拍品，共拍得7290万美元。

Moses, the financial analyst, said that buying the banana would be a risky bet from an investment perspective; few artworks dealing in shock value have seen positive returns on repeat auction sales. “The buyer needs to be bulking up on joy utility, because it’s not clear to me that this will be an addition to wealth utility,” he said.

金融分析师摩西说，从投资的角度来看，购买这件香蕉作品将是一个冒险的赌注；以惊人价格成交的艺术品很少能通过再度拍卖获得正回报。“买家的需要是增加快乐效用，因为我不清楚这是否会增加财富效用，”他说。