BANANAS: Art Highlights In a timeline

Highlights In A Timeline

Throughout Western art history, bananas have fascinated Western consumers often as representations of sexual metaphors, exoticism, and far-off lands; the images depicting the luscious fruit in art reflect the spirit of the time in which they were created.

17TH CENTURY: Dutch Golden Age still-life paintings frequently feature exotic fruits. Artists like Albert Eckhout included bananas in their elaborate compositions.

1889: “Still Life with Bananas” by Paul Gauguin: Gauguin’s post-impressionist painting showcases a vibrant still-life composition with bananas as the focal point.

1967: Pop Art movement emerges, and the banana becomes a recurring motif. Artists like Andy Warhol explore the commercialization of bananas in his iconic series of prints titled “The Velvet Underground & Nico” album cover, featuring a banana design.

1992 -1997 “Strange Fruit”: by Zoe Leonard, a series of object installations displaying discarded peels of various fruits reconstructed through colored stitches, including banana peels. The series draws attention to waste, decay, fragility, and the commodification of nature.

2002: “Pulp Fiction” by Banksy: a stencil graffiti on the wall of a rail station in London, depicting a famous scene from the film “Pulp Fiction,” where the characters raise their “guns,” which have been replaced with bananas.

2015: “Boot flower” by Patricia Piccinini: This sculpture by the Australian artist depicts a realistic, oversized banana blossom made from silicone. It explores themes of nature, genetic modification, and artificiality.

2019: “Comedian” by Maurizio Cattelan: a notable banana artwork by Cattelan, consisting of a real banana duct-taped to a wall. It caused a sensation at Art Basel Miami Beach and sparked discussions on the nature of art and its value.

Picture: Albert Eckhout, Painting with bananas